Transcontinental Journey of Magical Realism: A Study of Indian Literatures’ Response

Abstract

This chapter examines the journey of Magical Realism to India through a comparative reading of Indian and Latin American fictional works that share several similar aesthetic and stylistic features as well as political and ideological agendas. Latin America did not view the East as a source of imperial powers, as it did Europe. Nevertheless, the East influenced the shaping of an eclectic imaginary that was consciously used by Latin American modernistas. Thus began an intense engagement between these two worlds. An example of this sustained engagement was the overwhelming response of Indian writers to Magical Realism provided by García Márquez’s novels. Therefore, Latin American literature, starting from the Boom, became a turning point for Indian vernacular literatures. The Subaltern for a long time occupied a central place in Indian prose and poetry, and this mode has given voice to the subaltern aesthetic subject that became a source for representing alterity. This is the reason for the strong and lasting impact of Latin American fiction on Indian literary scene.