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6. Name your favorite instances of magical realism (any form).

M. ELIZA HAMILTON ABEGUNDE, Writer/Healing Facilitator, Chicago, IL

Novels and short stories.

KELLI RUSSELL AGODON, Poet/Mother/Editor, Washington State/USA

Uma Thurman drawing the dashed-line square in Pulp Fiction. Franz Wright in The Beforelife. Kafka's cockroach. 'Nuff said.

FORREST AGUIRRE, inventory analyst and managing editor for Ministry of Whimsy press, Madison, WI

Rikki Ducornet, THE JADE CABINET (novel)

Edward Carey, OBSERVATORY MANSIONS (novel)

Tony Millionaire, THE ADVENTURES OF TONY MILLIONAIRE'S SOCK MONKEY (graphic novel)

Steven Millhauser, ENCHANTED NIGHT (novel)

Though, perhaps, any of these might be considered surreal, fantasy, or something else, depending on one's definitions . . .

DOUG ANDERSON, Editor, KLANG, Seattle, WA

~ Pliny the elder. Especially when he writes about animals. He goes on and on in the most serious deadpan -- all kinds of outrageous fabrication and whimsy concerning he knows not what. Utterly bizarre fun-facts about bees, whales, elephants, you name it. I've read many interviews of García Márquez but I've never seen him mention Pliny. Even so, his tone is almost identical to Pliny's at times.

~ Homer, the Illiad.

~ Aristophanes.

~ Some of Plato's wild myths.

~ Apuleius, the Golden Ass.

~ Ariosto, Orlando Furioso.

~ Cervantes' Don Quijote (Book II). The author turns real people into fictional characters; the fictional character himself, now after his fame from Part I has spread wide, becomes rattled by so much realism. A lot of magic going on there -- Cervantes was way, way ahead of postmodernism.

~ Francisco de Quevedo, The Dreams. (This might be a borderline call since he stages the dreams in the afterlife.)

~ Bulgokov, The Master and Margarita.

~ R.M. Koster, The Tinieblas Trilogy

~ All the Latin American writers.

ANONYMOUS, translator, Spain

Novels.

JOE BENEVENTO, Professor of English, Truman State University and writer (fiction and poetry), Kirksville, MO
jbeneven@truman.edu

Nothing has ever surpassed One Hundred Years of Solitude, in my estimation; it's still the prototype for magical realism and probably always will be. In another vein, Borges's fiction also helps define the borders of the genre.

DARIO CIRIELLO, decorative painter, US

The works of Borges and other Latin American authors/filmakers. I could argue that Shakespeare's works include a high proportion of MR.

ELLEN DATLOW, fiction editor, US

The stories and novels of Jonathan Carroll; One Hundred Years of Solitude; Little, Big by John Crowley.

GLENDA GUEST, writer/academic, Australia
glendaguest@ozemail.com.au

Can't go past García Márquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude, of course. And Robert Kroetsch's What the Crow Said. Then there's Jack Hodgins' The Invention of the World. Allende's The House of the Spirits. Gail Anderson-Dargatz, The Cure for Death by Lightning. David Brooks' The House of Balthus (an Australian writer who writes in the Borges vein), Angela Carter and Nights at the Circus, all of Peter Carey's early short stories and Illywacker (all those grotesque body parts!)

Many many more -- but the criteria is always in the understanding of the mode by the writer and in really good writing.

Maybe something will evolve from the literary term/form, which itself has its roots in the art terminology.

JAY MISKOWIEC, publisher & professor of English, Mpls. Community and Technical College, Minneapolis, MN
information@aliformgroup.com

Nothing will ever compare to One Hundred Years of Solitude, obviously.

DON MUCHOW, sales, Dallas, TX
muchow@earthlink.net

I am not sure I have a favorite, but it is alive and well in the works of contemporary author Neil Gaiman.

DORENE O'BRIEN, writing teacher

Like Water for Chocolate (film), 'The Circular Ruins' (a short story by Borges), 'A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings' (a short story by García Márquez).

JOHN PROHASKA, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
muchow@earthlink.net

While fond of many works, One Hundred Years of Solitude remains the paradigm. Beyond the brilliance and symmetry of its writing, it is the purest example of the genre ever produced.

SARAH WEBB QUEST, freelance writer, South Yarmouth, MA

I adored one popular tale from the Amazing Stories series, about a train scheduled to plow through a house in the middle of the night to collect a missing passenger. As a dedication, I wrote my own short train tale, "Tracks. "

Thanks for letting me participate! This link will take your readers to my Alternative Writing topic!

KEN RAND, "semi-fulltime writer;" dayjob: part-time library shelver, West Jordan, UT
KRand27577@aol.com

Harlan Ellison "Repent Harlequin..." and many of Ellison's works. I recently read a short collection by Trey Barker called Where the Southern Crosses the Dog. Frank Baum. Lots of Twain. Cirque du Soleil. The first Human Be-In. My quirky novels and short stories. Ray Vuksivich. etc.

JUSTINA ROBSON, writer, UK

I don't do favourites, they're always changing -- sorry.

MARJORIE ROMMEL, Publicist/Media Relations Consultant, City of Auburn, Washington; Teacher, Pacific Lutheran University (Poetry), Pierce College (Fiction/Biography), Highline College (Creative Writing), Auburn, WA
mrommel@qwest.net

If it furthers our awareness, acceptance and understanding of universal connectedness, if it breaks down the walls we humans have built between ourselves and the rest of creation -- any form, any instance of magical realism -- it's all good.

GARRETT ROWLAN, substitute teacher, US
growlan@jps.net

One Hundred Years of Solitude.

ANDY SAWYER, librarian and lecturer, Liverpool, England
a.p.sawyer@liverpool.ac.uk

The recent novels of John Crowley: from Little, Big to the Aegypt sequence.

TAMARA KAYE SELLMAN, editor and publisher/MARGIN

Anything by Gabo. Favorite instances from One Hundred Years of Solitude include the trickling of blood that announced death in the Buendía family, the ascension of Remedios the Beauty, the character Melquiàdes in all his timeless forms, the arrival of ice and the mystique of the banana company in Macondo, the shipwreck in the jungle.

There are so many others beyond GGM..., but currently, I've taken a fancy to HBO's Carnivàle. I loved the Woody Allen magical realist parody, Picking Up The Pieces. Some other favorites: Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea, Chamoiseau's Texaco. Most everything from Toni Morrison. Keri Hulme's The Bone People. Ah, Kafka. Borges' 'The Aleph.' Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. Mario Vargas Llosa. Cereus Blooms at Night by poet Shani Mootoo. Salman Rushdie, let's not forget! American tall tales as a matter of form. Oh, and urban legends, because as a prominent oral tradition in contemporary American society, they are the spawning ground for so much of what magical realism eventually becomes.

BARBARA STEINHAUSER, writer, Parker, CO

Jon Sczieska's fractured fairy tales and Math Curse. Roald Dahl's Mathilda and other magical stories. Robin Williams in What Dreams May Come. A small segment in the Newberry winner, Because of Winn Dixie. Borges' Labyrinth. Some of Italo Calvino seems like MR to me.

ISAAC SWEENEY, full-time journalist, full-time grad student (English, creative writing concentration), Harrisburg, VA
lovefaithhopedreams@hotmail.com

I love Rudolfo Anaya's novel, Bless Me, Ultima. The whole thing. Every instance.

Gabriel García Márquez' description of the old man's wings in 'The Very Old Man With Enormous Wings.' And the crabs, too.

The attempts to kill Erendira's grandmother in 'Beautiful Erendia and Her Heartless Grandmother.'

I'm still working on One Hundred Years of Solitude, but I like when someone dies (I think Arcadio?) and the blood trickles across Macondo.

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