magic realismn.
/ˌmadʒɪk ˈrɪəlɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /ˈˌmædʒɪk ˈriəˌlɪzəm/ Art and Literary Theory.
Originally: a style of painting which depicts fantastic or bizarre images in a precise representationalist manner (first used in German to describe the work of members of the Neue Sachlichkeit movement). In extended use: any artistic or esp. literary style in which realistic techniques such as naturalistic detail, narrative, etc., are similarly combined with surreal or dreamlike elements.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > period, movement, or school of art > late 19th and 20th centuries > [noun] > magical realism
magic realism1933
magical realism1937
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > types of narrative or story generally > [noun] > realism of stories, etc. > combined with surreal elements
magic realism1933
magical realism1937
1933 J. Leftwich tr. F. Werfel Saverio's Secret in Yisroël 526 You will find it in all the little shop windows in the rue de la Boëtie, that magic realism which is the new word.
1963 B. S. Myers Expressionism v. §29. 229 In the hands of progressive Germans of the twenties (as with the Americans Charles Sheeler and Georgia O'Keefe, the Frenchman Pierre Roy, and others), Magic Realism is a meaningful and historically important movement.
1970 R. S. Rudder tr. A. Serrano-Plaja (title) ‘Magic’ realism in Cervantes.
1987 M. Atwood Sunrise in Bluebeard's Egg 246 People bought her paintings though not for ultra-top prices, especially after magic realism came back in.
1991 E. J. Smyth Postmodernism & Contemp. Fiction i. 35 Fantasy also figures centrally in the work of Salman Rushdie, its interfusion with the more prosaic material demonstrating Rushdie's incorporation into the novel in English of the exuberant magic realism developed, by South Americans such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Derivatives
ˌmagic ˈrealist n. and adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > period, movement, or school of art > late 19th and 20th centuries > [adjective] > magical realist
magic realist1943
magical realist1981
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > period, movement, or school of art > late 19th and 20th centuries > [noun] > magical realism > artist
magic realist1943
magical realist1981
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > types of narrative or story generally > [adjective] > combined with surreal elements
magic realist1943
magical realist1981
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > types of narrative or story generally > [noun] > realism of stories, etc. > combined with surreal elements > one who practises
magic realist1943
magical realist1981
1943 D. C. Miller & A. H. Barr Amer. Realists & Magic Realists 5 The subject, Realists and Magic Realists, was chosen to demonstrate a widespread but not yet generally recognized trend in contemporary American art.
1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Nov. p. xxix/2 For his intensity of vision he [sc. Charles Sheeler] may well be considered a forerunner of the Magic Realists.
1981 N.Y. Times 11 Oct. vii. 36/4 A number of Chicano writers admit what critics of contemporary Latin American fiction call ‘magic realist’ elements into their work.
1990 Sunday Tel. 18 Feb. 50/5 The magic realist mode frees him from any obligation to make the incidents he devises probable or in any way convincing.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1933