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   cybil Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

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   While some disagreement exists about the definition of magic realism, it is generally agreed that this kind of writing in one in which "elements of the marvelous, mythical, or dreamlike are injected into an otherwise realistic story without breaking the narrative flow," according to enotes. Postmodernism, it seems to me, can be considered as a complementary kind of writing. This approach also rejects typical rational, historical, and scientific thought in favor of experimental works in many of which the authors abandon the concept of an ordered universe, linear narratives, and traditional forms to question the nature of truth and reality, dispensing with the idea of a universal ordering scheme, according to enotes.

   Both magic realism and postmodernism, then, offer new approaches to depicting the world and techniques in which authors can convey their views. Both reject traditional forms and present methods and ideas that surprise and challenge the reader.

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/twentieth-century-criticism/magic-r...

   http://www.enotes.com/twentieth-century-criticism/postmod...

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   Posted by cybil on Thursday February 7, 2008 at 5:15 AM