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Magical realism and irony's 'edge': rereading magical realism and Kim Scott's Benang

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journal contribution
posted on 2014-01-01, 00:00 authored by Maria Takolander
Magical realism has been the subject of much earnest theorising, implicating the narrative mode in postcolonial projects of cultural regeneration not only in Latin America but around the world. The claim that its hybrid vision simultaneously transgresses and supplements Western ratiocinative epistemologies has seen the mode become over-determined and dismissed as a postcolonial cliche. Rarely noted, however, is the ironic nature of the literary mode. Yet the trademark representation of the magical in a realist narrative is marked by a conspicuous incongruity, which is not only necessary to magical realism's aesthetic effect but which also provides a strong incentive for ironic readings. This paper will reread magical realism through Kim Scott's Benang in order to recognise the ironic incongruity at play in magical realism and to revitalise the mode's 'edge'.

History

Journal

Journal of the association for the study of Australian literature

Volume

14

Issue

5

Pagination

1 - 11

Publisher

Association for the Study of Australian Literature

Location

Burwood, Vic.

ISSN

1833-6027

eISSN

1447-8986

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2014, Association for the Study of Australian Literature

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