The Bible as Magical Realism
Old Testament connections to a South American Genre
Take a new look at an old source. Consider the marvelously real as portrayed in the Old Testament- particularly in I Samuel with the soon to be deposed King Saul.
How could a literary genre possibly define a religious text- particularly the penetrating Old Testament? Is there a common denominator?
Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris compiled essays on “lo real maravilloso” or the marvelous real, into a book titled, Magical Realism. On defining this genre, an essay by Alejo Carpentier explains, “To begin with, the phenomenon of the marvelous presupposes faith.” Luis Leal, in his essay agrees, “The magical realist does not try to copy the surrounding reality or to wound it but to seize the mystery that breathes behind things.”
Aren’t these foundational principles in the Old Testament: the presumption of faith and the interaction between man and the mystery that breathes behind things?
These connections become clear in I Samuel 13:13-14, where Saul is presented as a people-pleaser about to lose his kingdom: And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly! You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God which He commanded you; for the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever; But now your kingdom shall not continue; the Lord has sought out David, a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince and ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
P. Gabrielle Foreman states, “Magical realism, unlike the fantastic or the surreal, presumes that the individual requires a bond with the traditions and the faith of the community, that s/he is historically constructed and connected.”
In I Samuel, Saul understands- because he continues to believe in this mystery behind things- that his lapse in faith has removed him from the community and its traditions to the extent that his kingdom will no longer continue. Though the news is not good news, Saul believes Samuel’s words because he is immersed in a tradition of faith.
Amaryll Chanady, in his essay, says, “The principle thing is not the creation of imaginary beings or worlds but the discovery of the mysterious relationship between man and his circumstances. In magical realism key events have no logical or psychological explanation.”
Perhaps an even more telling example occurs when Moses listens to The Lord in Exodus 8:22 verses 8-10, “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Take handfuls of ashes from the brick kiln and let Moses sprinkle them toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh. And it shall become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast in all the land. So they took ashes of the kiln and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses threw them toward the sky, and it became boils erupting in sores on man and beast.”
Is there a logical or psychological explanation? Only if one superimposes an explanation upon the original text. Is there a faith tradition behind the actions of Moses? Yes, the covenant of Abraham has created such a tradition of faith. Does this writing seize the mystery that breathes behind things? Yes, it does.
Magical realism explores the interconnection between tradition and faith in global communities from modern South American to Ancient Egypt, suggesting that, as David Mikics observed, “ordinary life may also be the scene of the extraordinary.”
