Magical Realism as World Literature: Travelling Concept, Travelling Theory, Untranslatable

In their 2020 The Palgrave Handbook of Magical Realism in the Twenty-First Century, Richard Perez and Victoria A. Chevalier argue that the globalization of magical realism marks a new stage in the 21st century. However, this seminar assumes a longer global history of magical realism, spanning from Gabriel García Márquez in Latin America and Toni Morrison in the United States to Arundhati Roy in India, Mo Yan in China, Tim Winton in Australia, Mikhail Bulgakov in Russia, Dino Buzzati in Italy, Tahar Ben Jelloun in Morocco, Ibrahim al-Koni in Libya, and Ben Okri in Nigeria, among others.  Drawing on this multipolar and multidirectional history, this seminar seeks to explore the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral factors that explain the global appeal of magical realism. By analyzing its circulation as a “traveling concept” (Mieke Bal), “traveling theory” (Edward Said), and as something potentially “untranslatable” (Barbara Cassin), we will situate magical realism within the broader framework of the “institutions of world literature” (Stefan Helgesson and Pieter Vermeulen). Additionally, we will consider the perspectives of literary agents—writers, critics, historians, publishers, and communities—who resist any identification with magical realism, viewing it as a Eurocentric imposition or a form of neo-colonial commodification.