Leyendas de Guatemala - Literary Analysis - Magical Realism

Magical Realism

According to Francisco Solares-Larrave, the mythical thought process that characterizes the stories of Leyendas de Guatemala should be viewed not from an anthropological perspective, but rather as the root of a new take on reality which characterizes this literature. This implementation of a new kind of logic based in the realm of the mythical brings Asturias' stories close to the sphere of the literary concept of magical realism. However rather than classifying Leyendas as part of this movement of the Latin American Boom this makes these stories a precursor, a sort of a stepping stone towards the marvelous realism of Alejo Carpentier and later the magical realism movement. Asturias was more concerned with presenting the realistic qualities of magical things as a source of a new national identity rather than following what we now know as magical realism. Yet it is in Leyendas that we first begin to see traces of what will later be known as magical realism, a vision which unites reality with illusion. For example, with the appearance of the Cuco de los Sueños we see magical realism avant la lettre, which permits the evocation of cities of the past, those which are now buried under other cities. The apparent fluidity of time and space also invoke the sensation that the logic of magical realism had been brewing in the work of Asturias. Similarly, Selena Millares describes the world of Leyendas as watching the world through the reflection of a sub-terrain river With a regression to a dream-like quality and fluid context, Leyendas de Guatemala does indeed appear to be a significant stepping stone in the direction of the future movement of magical realism.