Imposing Worlds: On the Magic-Inflected Forms of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Kiran Desai
Open Access
Author:
Malik, Huzaifa
Area of Honors:
Comparative Literature
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Magali Armillas-Tiseyra, Thesis Supervisor Linda Istanbulli, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Latin American Literature South Asian Literature Literary Forms Magical Realism Gabriel García Márquez Kiran Desai Watery Spaces Metaphor
Abstract:
Despite the ostensible lack of magic present in the work of Kiran Desai, this thesis traces a line of formal influence between her novel and the magical realist short stories of Gabriel García Márquez. It compares the literary forms of Kiran Desai’s novel Inheritance of Loss (2006), to Gabriel García Márquez’ short stories “Sea of Lost Time” (1962), “Monologue of Isabel Watching it Rain in Macondo” (1955), and “Death Constant Beyond Love” (1972). García Márquez’ stories can most directly be described as magical realist, depicting elements of magic which work in both real and metaphorical capacities to develop worlds and influence character narratives. While Desai’s novel contains no magic, it does use images of nature (especially watery spaces) to similarly work in both real and metaphorical capacities. Further, the thesis explores how both authors use these metaphorical-real images to guide character narratives. Furthermore, the thesis explores how the authors are purposeful with their forms, desiring more perfect modes of representation, through forms which can depict the social histories that inform and underlie the narratives.
