THE TREATMENT OF HISTORIOGRAPHIC METAFICTION AND MAGICAL REALISM IN WINTERSON’S THE PASSION AND MORRISON’S BELOVED

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the role of Historiographic Metafiction and Magical Realism in Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion and Toni Morrison’s Beloved in the enrichment of the plot of both works , besides clarifying the concept of Magical Realism, its goals, the reasons for its emergence, and its importance in literature. Both novels fit a distinctive model of Historiographic Metafiction, where both authors have reversed all norms and traditions that are imposed by religious beliefs and patriarchal society to modulate the historical facts and present the familiar and common facts in a different form, where woman are no longer oppressed as once her presence was intentionally obliviated in history. Furthermore, both authors used magical realism creatively; Winterson embodied Magical Realism's elements innovatively, as she constructed a fictitious and mythical world, creating mythical creatures that are difficult to imagine or explain. They have also mingled fiction with reality, creatively; whereas Morrison presents slavery different from what is common, as she portrays pains of slavery via mixing fiction and reality, to make ordinary become unusual and familiar seem unfamiliar.