Moving More Deeply into the Real World
Many years ago, when I was yearning to move out of journalism into more creative writing, I stumbled upon a short story by the late Argentinian writer, Julio Cortázar.
Entitled “Graffiti,” and included in Cortázar’s dual collection, We Love Glenda So Much and A Change of Light, the story was set in an unnamed city where political protests were being met with severe repression, much like what was happening in Cortázar’s native Argentina at the time.
Telling the story of two nameless people, presumably a man and a woman, risking imprisonment, torture, and even death to make sketches on public walls in acts of defiance and love, Cortázar lifted the tale out of the realm of realistic fiction into the magical.
The movement from the real to the not-real, though, was slight, as I learned was the case in much of the author’s short fiction, which I went on to devour and love.
Interestingly, however, the fantastic elements of the story shone a bright light on reality, which caused me to see more clearly how creativity, love, and hope can never be completely crushed and, in time, will always win out over violence, dictatorship, and efforts to silence free expression.
Exploring Magical Realism
In addition to Cortázar’s stories, I read the short fiction of other magical realist authors and decided this was a style I wanted to explore in my own writing. I realized that magical realism was a perfect avenue for addressing some issues in short fiction that I had covered as a journalist, including immigration and racism, poverty and social justice, and the environment.
In fact, many of my favorite authors who have written magical realist short fiction, including Gabriel García Márquez and Aravind Adiga, were journalists prior to becoming fiction writers.
While magical realism is sometimes confused with other types of speculative fiction, such as fantasy, it is not the same. I think of magical realism not as creating an alternate universe but as moving more deeply into the actual world in which we live.
In my own stories, I like the magical elements to be close enough to reality that they cause the reader to wonder which is real: what happened in the story or what goes on in everyday life.
Creating Something Magical
In the title story of my latest book, Hairway to Heaven Stories, Leticia Williams believes that on her very last day of rehab she has seen Jesus and shaken his hand.
A recovering substance abuser, Williams uses her newfound faith to get past the temptation of drinking to assuage her sorrows, and to begin building a better life.
Williams ends up being a symbol of hope for others in the recovery program. Having seen and shaken hands with Jesus adds to Williams’ reputation, as someone special to be respected and admired.
Another story in the book, “Emergency Room,” focuses on a group of people waiting hour after hour in the emergency room of a hospital to be seen for a variety of illnesses and injuries.
As the hours tick by, more patients join the group, but not one of them is attended to by a nurse or physician. At some point, the patients decide to take matters into their own hands. The story exaggerates the condition of the medical system in this country. But in doing so, through the use of magical realism, it sheds light on the lack of access to medical treatment for many Americans, especially the poor.
Melding Style with Genre
Magical realism works especially well in short fiction, because the compressed nature of the pieces makes it easier to sustain belief in what is not quite real.
As with Leticia Williams in the story “Hairway to Heaven,” I often use magical realist elements in short fiction to help develop character. In fact, something magical can even be turned into a character.
In the short story, “Dust,” which will be included in my forthcoming collection, From
Here to There, a “small clump of dust” travels across the border from Mexico into the United States.
The dust becomes a character, a stand-in for the undocumented Mexican immigrants that are such a divisive political issue in this country today. In the story, the dust is both real and a metaphor at the same time.
I also think that magical realism works well in short fiction because there is a wide latitude for creativity in short stories.
At least in my experience, short stories often emerge all of a piece, much like an extended poem, through some unconscious force. The best short stories stay with me, like dreams. There’s often an airy quality to short fiction, in the way that it creates a place or emotion or regret in a relatively small number of words.
As in any fictional element, what makes magical realism work in a short story is exquisite detail. Readers must be able to see the nonrealistic elements or actions and they need to be consistent with the reality in the story.
Just as any traits must be believable about a character, magical qualities must also ring true.
Enjoying the Magic
In the end, like many writers, I have chosen to write because I love entering worlds through fiction that I am not able to engage with in my everyday life.
During the 10 years I worked as a journalist, I hoped my articles would make a positive difference in the world. So many critical problems seem intractable these days, from climate change to immigration.
While I would never assume that my humble short stories could make even a tiny dent in moving the needle forward on these issues, when I am in the midst of writing, the stories and my characters give me hope. Part of that faith comes from believing in the magic that sometimes happens in both writing and in life.
Patty Somlo is a member of the San Francisco chapter of the Women’s National Book Association (WNBA). Her most recent book, Hairway to Heaven Stories (Cherry Castle Publishing), was a Finalist in the American Fiction Awards and Best Book Awards. Her previous books, The First to Disappear (Spuyten Duyvil) and Even When Trapped Behind Clouds: A Memoir of Quiet Grace (WiDo Publishing), have been Finalists in the International Book Awards, Best Book Awards, National Indie Excellence Awards, and Reader Views Literary Awards. She received Honorable Mention for Fiction in the Women’s National Book Association Contest and had an essay selected as Notable for Best American Essays 2014. Her next book, From Here to There, is forthcoming from Adelaide Books in August 2019.
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