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Criticism: Don’t Call it Magical Realism
“Don’t Call It Magical Realism: Latin American Writers Use Imagination and
Fantasy to Explain the World Around Them” (Pilar Marrero, Ethnic Media
Services)
“We are living in a horror that is quite difficult to explain through realism”
Mariana Enriquez
A plethora of authors have reimagined the horror already happening in their own cultures and in tern, put out written works reflecting their reality through realism.
It is interesting seeing Science Fiction incorporate surrounding themes of social settings and cultural context rather than the typical display of science and technology. We can see this exemplified in Mexican writers Gabriella Damien Miravetes, “They Will Dream of a Garden”, where the souls of murdered and disappeared women and girls, are preserved in a “holographic memorial” as survivors try to preserve their memory. Considering Mexico is a country where countless women and girls die or disappear every day, Gabriella Damian Miravetes story imagines of foreseeable future where woman make changes to stop these murders, using cultural context and the power of imagination within science fiction or speculative fiction.
“Confusing what we are doing in Latin America… with magical realism is a common mistake,… many in the North think that if it’s not the Science Fiction, then it must be magical realism”
says Mexican writer and editor Libia Brenda, with a slight irritation in her voice
