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4. If you were to look for a magical realist book at a bookstore or library (or a magical realist film at a movie rental store), in what section would you look?

ANONYMOUS, publisher/editor, London, England

Under the author's name or General Fiction.

ANONYMOUS, retired journalist/translator/researcher/film production, France

I would look at Fantastic.

ANONYMOUS, retired dentist/medical educator, Newport, RI

Literature/Novels.

CAROLYN BEASLEY, writer/creative writing teacher, Victoria, Australia
carolynmareebeasley@excite.com

When looking for a magical realist book in a bookstore in Australia I would look under 'Literature' (classification system in Australia is usually 'popular fiction', 'crime', 'SF/Fantasy' and 'Literature').

PAT BERGERON, dreamer/explorer/research secretary, Ann Arbor, MI
pcarolb@umich.edu

Literature.

BILL BEVERLY, professor at Trinity College

Fiction.

CHRIS DOERFLER, attorney/wannabe screenwriter, Phoenix, AZ
cadoerfler@cox.net

Now that’s really a hit or miss proposition. Publishers don’t seem themselves to know what MR is, so if the work has a happy ending it’ll be in comedy, while a serious ending is in drama. I find I have to go in knowing the title of what I want and ask for help.

LOUIS GALLO, professor of English, Radford University, Radford, VA

It would have to be in the general fiction section. I know of NO bookstore that categorizes MR as a separate genre. In video stores, the same deal. It could be anywhere—sci fi, horror, drama, anywhere.

LAURA HORSLEY, high-school teacher, Houston, TX

I would first look in comedy; if that was not successful, I'd then go to drama.

MARIO HERRERA, student/University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM
riodude@unm.edu

I almost always find the literature under general fiction, and have to know what to look for… I have found browsing impossible.

CAROLIVIA HERRON, novelist, Washington DC
Carolivia@carolivia.org

Fiction.

DAVID INKEY, poet and philosopher (the UN Poet)
unpoet@aol.com

Children's Books.

KATIE, graduate student/English teacher, Richmond, VA

Magical Realist stories and movies are everywhere. In the video store, you can find them in comedy (Simply Irresistible), foreign (Chocolat), dramatic (The Green Mile), etc. In the bookstore, I usually find them in adult fiction, but it takes a bit of hunting around. Lately I have taken to looking for magical realism in young adult fiction.

SONDRA KELLY-GREEN, writer, Willamina, OR
veniceitaly@excite.com

Bookstore: general fiction or literature (depending on author). Movie store: drama or foreign.

KATIE KLEIN, librarian

It would depend on the work. For books they're usually in fiction or literature shelved by author, videos in drama or comedy by title. Magical realism is not really a genre that you can browse and find what you're looking for. You have to know (or ask around) to find authors and titles before you get to a shelf.

DERAN LUDD, Seattle, WA

Latin America literature (or a magical realist film at a movie rental store, looking under 'David Lynch').

SANDRA MADDUX-CREECH, laid-off account manager, Wellington, CO
madduxcreech@msn.com

If you're looking for general MR, some unspecific book or film, you have to roam the aisles, eyes peeled for unusual cover art and titles. And even then, it's like turning over stones in the woods.

HERMINE MEINHARD, poet/writing teacher, New York, NY
herminem@earthlink.net

In the fiction section (for books).

LETTIE PRELL, Des Moines, IA

Some is in Science Fiction/Fantasy; some in the "mainstream" shelves; some in "ethnic" shelves.

ROBERT PREUSS, writer, Saratoga Springs, NY

Fiction, sometimes fantasy and rarely (as in the case of two Philip K. Dick novels, which are not science fiction, Mary and the Giant and The Man Whose Teeth Were Exactly Alike, but basically precursive to magical realism) in the science fiction section.

JOHN PROHASKA, Winnipeg, Manitoba
johnprohaska2000@yahoo.ca

MR is not a genre unto itself (nor am I sure it should be), so it's mixed in with other works. Books are in literature. Films are usually in drama, though that depends on their tenor.

KEN RAND, writer/part-time library shelver, West Jordan, UT
KRand27577@aol.com

Fantasy. But I know names, so I can find Brautigan in general fiction. Ditto Vonnegut.

JEAN MARIE RIQUELME, poet, Green Bay, WI

Foreign Films; World Fiction.

MELANIE RIVERA, student, Washington DC
mr5831a@american.edu

Fantasy fiction.

GARRETT ROWLAN, subteacher, Los Angeles, CA
growlan@jps.net

I'd look in the literature section, and then maybe in fantasy.

KELLEY WHITE, pediatrician, Philadelphia, PA
KelleyWhiteMD@Yahoo.com

I'd look in books in translation and foreign films.

CAROL ZAPATA-WHELAN, university instructor, Hispanic Lit/writer, Clovis, CA, USA/Argentina

Latin American.

GO TO QUESTION 5

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