Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover

ice.


When the semester comes to an end and I am able to relax back home, I tend to spend the hours on end that I would normally be reading assigned texts by reading for pleasure. Life moves a bit slower in Walnut Cove, and the only activity I have available to entertain me when the weather is poor is reading. This week, I have started to make progress on Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. I've been holding out on reading this 'must read' until I become fluent in Spanish and can read it as intended, but I have growing doubts as to that whole fluency thing ever coming to fruition. I'm only halfway through at the moment so I won't say anything about the novel past this - the big technical aspect of the book has me thinking about magical realism.

Magical realism is a strange territory for me. Fantasy literature, as well as science fiction, have never been appealing reads. I catch intense shame fairly often when friends discover that I haven't read the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter series. I fully understand why others enjoy those books. It is simply a case of me not being sold on the fantastic. Maybe my distaste for Beowulf should be chalked up to this as well. Maybe not.
I think magical realism should share some common ties with fantasy and science fiction. It makes sense that it does. It would make sense that I would have a similar distaste for magical realism. Yet, I don't. All of the magical realism I've come across has been enthralling. I've loved it. Obviously, using magical realism in poetry is a different game, but James Tate is never boring. His poems are great. Coming across a pair of W.S. Merwin poems in Poetry Daily earlier this year was a treat too. Magical realism can do some great, great things.

I am rather intrigued by magical realism, which is why I am kicking myself at the moment. I had the opportunity to study stylistics in fiction next semester with Daniel Wallace, of Big Fish fame. Wallace seems to have mastered to use of magical realism, and I should have taken the opportunity to work with him since he is a visiting professor at Carolina who leaves after the spring semester finishes.

Here's a promise I am making to myself - take whatever class the writer in residence is teaching next year, no matter who they are and what their forte is. If that means learning from the authority on metaphysical novels written in the fourth person, so be it.