As the sun set on Europe: Marvelous Realism and a new place for America

Abstract

This article considers how Marvelous Realism, a predecessor of Magical Realism formulated by the Cuban author Alejo Carpentier, contributes to an understanding of the United States as part of America. Past efforts to maintain a separation of the United States from the rest of America have distorted cultural studies and impeded useful political projects. Although sound political concerns, along with disciplinary boundaries, exist for moving cautiously while revising current views of the United States as an entity necessarily opposed to Latin America, scholars need not always uphold invasive or hegemonic forces as they discover links between these seemingly disparate American places. Developing ideas found in the writings of José Martí and other American philosophers, Carpentier found powerful connections between Latin America and the rest of America – whatever one calls it – even as he engaged in excoriations of Washington's misuse of power and the undue influence of Hollywood. In addition to defining Marvelous Realism, Carpentier's Prologue to El reino de este mundo shows how it applies to literature, painting, and music in ways that have the power to transform our understanding of how fusions of the three populated continents on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean brought about a profusion of American cultures. Reading Carpentier's 1948 explanation of Magical Realism in the context of his earlier articles serialized in Carteles in 1941 demonstrates the utility as well as the logic of – sometimes – bringing America together.