Assumptions of Reality: Low Fantasy, Magical Realism, and the Fantastic

Author(s): Greer Watson

Source: Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts , 2000, Vol. 11, No. 2 (42) (2000), pp. 164-
172
Published by: International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts

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 Assumptions of Reality: Low
Fantasy, Magical Realism, and

Greer Watson

Most people who study fantasy, in the narrower sense of the term, look at
individual books, their authors and the influences on them, and the history of
fantasy, in general or in one particular country. They discuss sociopolitical
themes, common motifs, literary conventions, allegorical interpretations, and
religious or philosophical bases for particular fantasy worlds. With certain
prominent exceptions, however, they are less concerned with theoretical anal-
yses of fantasy as a mode.
By contrast, genre theorists deal with fantasy only in the wider sense of
the term. Although they may well discuss books with non-mimetic aspects,
such as gothic romance, postmodern novels, magical realism, and (occasion-
ally) science fiction, as a rule they eschew fantasy such as J.R.R. Tolkien's
The Lord of the Rings (1954-55). Instead, they follow in the footsteps of
Tzvetan Todorov, whose pioneering analysis, Introduction a ' la littérature
fantastique (1970), defined the fundamental characteristics of le fantastique,
the French term for a genre that roughly encompasses gothics and ghost sto-
ries. In many of these, there is, for at least part of the tale, some uncertainty
(/ 'hesitation) on the part of the protagonist - and hence on the part of the
reader - about the proper interpretation of apparently supernatural events.
Perhaps the most often cited example is Henry James's The Turn of the Screw
(1898), in which there is no overt proof of the reported ghostly manifestations,
so that the reader vacillates between interpreting them as real or as delusion.
Todorov considered l'hésitation to be critical to the definition of the genre
(33). Most examples of the fantastic do not, however, maintain it through to
the end of the story, but resolve it at some point, either with a rational explana-
tion or with manifestations of the supernatural that can only be interpreted as
real.
When Richard Howard translated Todorov's book into English in 1973,
he transliterated "le fantastique" into "the fantastic." In the hands of most An-
glo-American genre theorists, the fantastic is not limited to gothics and ghost
stories, but is treated more broadly as a mode of writing that presents the
reader with antinomious readings for apparently supernatural events in the
text, resulting in the reader's "hesitation" between readings. The fantastic is

Vol. 1 1 , No. 2, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts

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Copyright © 2000, Florida Atlantic University

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thus a mode
tation. As T
tasy accept
physical wo
from the p
have in the
only possib
cause they
that exists i
takes place w
setting that
This type o
Todorov h
(1915) with
representat
people do n
inspire in th
ing The Me
cockroach; a
of nature
Todorov. A
el realismo
American w
In Julio Co
is metemps
Such storie
on the basi
(Jackson, G
however, A
distinct mo
in the attitu
or writer, w
ognize the s
fantastic -
shares the w
tionalist vie
hesitation a
hand, the n
puts it, "He
reader does
The narrat
world-view
different m

16

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 Assumptions of Reality

with the co-existenc

underclass, which
(19-20).
But is this reader acceptance of the narrator's "portrayal of a different
mentality" in any way different from what Tolkien calls "secondary belief'?
Clearly there is a radical difference between The Metamorphosis and The
Lord of the Rings : the latter is set in another world from our own, where
dwarfs and wizards and goblins and dragons really exist. How can one be
sure, though, that the differences seen between the books are those that are
relevant to the distinction in mode?
There are a large number of books that have been identified as fantasy but
which do not have otherworldly settings. Such stories are often referred to as
"low fantasy." Perhaps one should compare The Metamorphosis, then, not
with The Lord of the Rings but with a book such as E. Nesbit's Five Children
and It (1902), in which a family of children meet a magical creature that
grants their wishes. The term "magic realism" has, indeed, recently been ap-
plied to such stories by Cathi Dunn MacRae in her survey text Presenting
Young Adult Fantasy Fiction (1998). But such a comparison still presents
problems. Five Children and It has a wish-granting fairy (albeit a rather oddly
shaped fairy). The supernatural events in The Metamorphosis do not, how-
ever, stem from any overt cause. Gregor Samsa simply wakes up one morning
to find himself a cockroach. Is this a significant difference? Again, there is the
problem of relying on core examples of fuzzy sets (Attebery 12-13). Core ex-
amples differ too much, in too many ways.
In the sciences, both the physical and social sciences, there is a method of
reducing experimental error by limiting the range of variation. This is known
as "controlling the variables." Experimental subjects are so selected as to be
maximally similar in all ways except the ones under examination. Differences
between them are therefore attributable only to the variable in which the re-
searcher is interested. Unfortunately, in literary analysis, the high level of
control possible in, for example, medical research simply cannot be attained.
Books are not lab rats. To make things a little easier, however, the stories do
not have to parallel one another throughout, since readers are usually able to
identify the type of text they are reading within the first few chapters. What is
needed for comparison, therefore, are stories which have apparently primary-
world settings and introduce essentially the same sort of supernatural event
using the same motif. In Linguistics, such comparative examples are called
"minimal pairs." Given that the fantastic represents yet another mode, it
would be nice to find a "minimal set."
Consider three texts: Joyce Gard's Woorroo (1961), Gabriel Garcia
Marquez's "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" (1968), and David Al-
mond's Skellig (1998). Woorroo is a children's book, in which a boy meets a
little man from a tribe of bat people, who uses a magic ritual to give the hero

1 66 Journal of the Fantastic

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wings for
story (subt
for adults)
South Ame
mission to
tumbledow
Skellig is
moved hou
gerously in
in, and see
man but f
sees the tr
floor of th
area which
shed with
steady him
thin arms
are not me
Michael go
that he ask
with clues
equivocal. O
finally rem
Michael is
from the f
he does no
actually se
nation. Ind
normality
reader is a
Michael ta
that he wan
any adult: n
nor the doc
school. Fro
disturbed.
beliefs in t
tion of the
only the r
face of thi
as an exam
By contra
Wings" con

In the Arts 1 67

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 Assumptions of Reality

it was an old man, a

his tremendous ef
(105). The wings ar
story. Pelayo and h
"skipped over the
the man cannot sp
their neighbour in
tion, they put him
sight, charge admi
enough to build a n
winged man becom
takes to wandering
lieved, therefore, w
"A Very Old Ma
third-person narrat
Indeed, not only P
the winged man: h
ing a miraculous cu
bishop, who write
Pelayo's small villa
true that, briefly
tongue-in-cheek s
cerns in part such
he speaks Aramaic
head of a pin. But
with wings: that is,
Significantly, the
wings themselves.
gest that they mi
Enormous Wings"
antinomy, or narr
cepted by all; only
question.
Woorroo opens almost a hundred years ago, when an old man hides his
father's manuscript of an account of his brother's voyage in the late eigh-
teenth century, and his own brief addendum about his youth. He thinks, "per-
haps I ought to hand it all over to the Royal Society. But they'd smile. They'd
never believe - they're all too old. Only a child would believe - as I
did - and what times I had!"(9). A century later, the hidden manuscript is
found by Mark, who is spending the night alone in the flat after his mother
leaves for Canada on a business trip; Mark is then to go to the country to visit
his great-aunt Enid for a summer holiday while his mother is away. The
manuscript tells Mark about a shipwrecked mariner who meets the last survi-

1 68 Journal of the Fantastic

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vor of a trib
tle winged
the family
script; and,
added a bri
ple of his t
works only
wings to be
When Woo
boy, Mark h
in the flesh
small. The b
old raincoat
broken her
forage for h
Mark is th
and - secret
Admittedly
and Mark's
group.
Like "A V
third-perso
spects, thou
protagonist
means a dep
in Woorroo
and the deta
cant delay
in Woorroo
has wings a
essentially
order to ex
the winged
not really t
Yet there
Wings." Ma
in a world
to the truth
probably w
secret of th
manuscript
feels comp

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Assumptions of Reality

man who hides the

lieve the story. Ma
After all, if the w
how convinced of t
and Mark's wings,
not allowed in sto
Enormous Wings,"
from afar; and th
moulting angel. Th
describing a world
Tolkien's terms, th
perspective of th
world-view must s
right at the beginni
Very Old Man wit
The narrator of W
our own - a seconda
the perspective of
Western rules of re
only the narrator
Woorroo. After th
own rules of realit
wings. Nevertheles
his awareness that
I suggest, therefo
between the three
necessary to exte
Chanady. I posit a
plied author and rea
the people in the wo
tional world- view a
mary reality.2
In magical realism
cords with a world
mary-world reality
supernatural event
govern the world of
In the fantastic, t
part of the story
world-view, as do
nist-cM/M-narrator
portion of the story
in with the ration

1 70 Journal of the Fantastic

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 reader shares t
erning the wor
rules that ban
ondary set of
In fantasy with
tional primary
other character
scient and kno
are not. Unlik
mary-world ru
them, because
low fantasy is l
there is no a
mary-world ru
people in the w
leaves the read

Notes

1 "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" is a short story, whereas the other two
texts are book-length. This raises a question: could the contrasts seen between the sto-
ries be attributable to the difference in length rather than a difference in mode? Since
there are numerous examples of short fantastic fiction (though involving other mo-
tifs), the difference in length between Skellig and "A Very Old Man with Enormous
Wings" would not seem significant. Low fantasies, however, are usually book length.
But short-form examples do exist. Margaret J. Baker's "The Wonderful Wellington
Boots" (1955), for example, opens with a description of the purchase of Elizabeth's
new boots, their bespellment by a gypsy, and the girl's discovery that they have the
power to travel great distances with each step - a version of the traditional
seven-league boots. Her siblings accept the magic of the boots after trying them out
for themselves; but their parents are not informed, nor are other adults. The lengthy
explanation of the acquisition of magic, and the instinctive impulse to secrecy are typ-
ical of low fantasy. The boots are then used for sightseeing along the Downs, until the
day when their magic is the only way to get quick word of a heath fire to the fire bri-
gade. Woorroo, too, climaxes with adventure: the rescue of a rock-climber who has
fallen onto a ledge. In both stories, this use of magic to aid others proves the protago-
nists' fundamental virtue, and justifies their having being given such power. Yet both
stories quickly conclude with the loss, or the expected loss, of magic and the heroes'
return to normal life.

Given stories like "The Wonderful Wellington Boots," the scarcity of short
low-fantasy fiction should be attributed more to available marketing opportunities
than the strictures of mode. Although usually book-length, low fantasies can be com-
pressed into short-story length without significant change to the formula.

In the Arts 171

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 Assumptions of Reality

2 It should be poin
supernatural incide
poltergeistic phenom
though treated as su
problems, given tha
the implied reader
this paper, however
potentially real. E
Marquez's muddy,

References

Almond, David. Skellig. London: Hodder, 1998.

Attebery, Brian. Strategies of Fantasy. Bloomington IN: Indiana UP, 1992.
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