Defining Magic Realism with Through the Arc of the Rain Forest

            One of the reasons why I took to Through the Arc of the Rain Forest so quickly is that I’ve been a huge fan of the Magic Realism genre.  The blurring of the lines between rational and the fantastical always struck me as one of the most jarring and engrossing forms of literature.  To this day, the collection of Gabriel Garcia Marquez short stories I found in my freshman year of high-school is the book I most often go back to.

            So, one of the things I always found difficult was trying to pin down precisely what Magic Realism was.  It sounds like a simple question, but the very nature of the genre makes a definition elusive.  It’s hard to specify what does and does not fit into a literary style that focuses on blurring the borders that typically stand up between genres; how much fantasy is required?  How much is too much?  Is there even a divide?  Novelist Terry Prachet once went as far as saying magic realism “is like a polite way of saying to write fantasy.”

            I bring all this up because I believe that Through the Arc of the Rain Forest goes a long way towards clarifying this chaos.  It embodies most of the unique characteristics that make Magical Realism stand out on its own as a genre.  First of all, the fantastical elements aren’t merely there; they’re included for precise reasons.  They represent deeper meaning about the world that the characters inhabit, as well as more abstract concepts like nature and industry.

            But more importantly is the way these fantastical elements are perceived by the characters within the story.  A solely fantasy story, for example, most likely would have introduced the ball around Kazumasa with little attention.  Instead, Arc specifically points out that something is out of the ordinary; the mother makes specific not that “she did not want her son made into a national phenomenon, a guinea pig for experiments”.  (5)  This may seem minor, but it means a great deal in establishing that this is a world where strange things are accepted, but not expected.

            This may all seems pointless, but I like to think there is a clear reason for it.  Magic Realism is a somewhat obscure genre, and even those that know it usually find it difficult to define.  But it’s also one of the most uniquely rewarding; as Through the Arc of the Rain Forest shows up, they can offer some of the most engaging literature that still holds powerful meaning.  Because of this, it’s worthwhile to be able to specify Magic Realism so it’s not swallowed up by another genre.  And Through the Arc of the Rain Forest is a perfect Guideline for doing so.

An interview with Karen Yamashita gave to the University of Caifornia

The Many Reflections of Faust

(Sorry if this doesn't fit in with the Arc of the Rainforest discussion; thought I'd publish the backlog of posts I needed to make up for.)

One of the aspects that makes the Faust Legend so intriguing is that the story does not belong to any singular author.  Rather, countless poets and playwrights have contributed to the story of Faust, adding their own distinctive interpretations to the growing mythology of Faust.  What this presents is a unique opportunity to compare these different interpretations of Faust in order to construct a view of what the world was like for its authors.  Perhaps the best examples are Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and Goethe’s Faust, two works published over 200 years apart from each other.  Thought they share the same subject, it’s clear that the two works are worlds apart.

A unique take on the
Faust Legend

In Marlowe’s version of the legend, dating back to the 16^th century, there’s a tone of condemnation for Doctor Faustus; rather than admirable, his pursuit of knowledge is seen as a sign of hubris.  Marlowe even goes as far as comparing the tale of Faustus to that of Icarus, the Greek Hero who flew too close to the sun and plummeted to his death as a result.  This all boils down to the strong church influence during the period; the clergy still had a stranglehold on the arts and sciences during the 1500’s, and it shows quite clearly in Marlowe’s work.  The knowledge that Faust seeks is portrayed as black magic rather than scientific discovery.  Anything beyond the scope the Church’s approval is condemned as Satanic in origin.  By seeking knowledge beyond Church control, Marlowe portrays Faustus ad sacrificing his sanctity.

This is hardly the only method of portraying Faust, however.  Upon comparing it to Gothe’s version, we see an entirely new perspective on the legend.  For example, Faust’s pursuit of knowledge is never demonized, and in fact is not the driving force behind the play.  Instead, the agreement is existential in origin, with Faust wanting more out of life, not knowledge.  This reflects two clear changes from the time of Faustus.  The first is the liberalization of scientific purist; in 1808, science was no longer curtailed by the Church.  Those who sought after knowledge no longer had to fear being accused of having a pact with the devil; in fact, Faust, an Alchemist, has the respect and admiration of the town.  The second change is the Romanticism of the story; Faust is a Romantic Hero, swayed and driven by emotion, compared to Faustus’s hubris.  These differences not only greatly alter the tone of the piece, but reflect the highly different times in which the stories were published.

First Impressions of Yamashita and Through the Arc of the Rain Forest

I am about eighty pages into Through The Arc of the Rain Forest, and so far I find the novel quite captivating. Upon starting the novel, I was unsure at how these insanely random characters and their strange eccentricities would unite to form a cohesive plot; but now I am starting to see where Yamashita may be going with this novel. Yamashita’s writing style is easily read but thematically dense. The main theme I’ve noticed thus far is the beauty in being strange or different. Each of the main characters has something that would be conventionally considered a strange eccentricity (head satellite, third arm, feather obsession); however, these characters are slowly becoming rich and famous from these embraced eccentricities. What’s more interesting is the ways in which society is intrigued and inspired by these stories. The main characters even help to inspire each other. For example, Kazumasa is pushed to discover his own luck through the encouragement of Lourdes and the prophecies of Batista. The constant interweaving of character dynamics is seemingly flawless and certainly one of Yamashita’s most valuable assets as a writer.

            Check out Karen Tei Yamashita’s lecture at the American Book Review in January. She previews one of her newest novels. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_MdSfvOK2Y

Through the Arc of "The Simpsons"

Well, I don’t know if anybody else watched “The Simpsons” when they were younger (or even now), but when we were discussing the ecological aspect of Through the Arc of the Rain Forest a few scenes from the show immediately popped in to my head in relation to the novel.  I searched all over for the clips of “The Simpsons” but I couldn’t find them for the life of me, so I am going to use these pictures to illustrate my point instead.   While we were talking about the rain forest landfill, for lack of a better title, the deformed mice with suction cup feet, and paint colored fur reminded me of Blinky the fish.  Blinky appeared on “The Simpsons” in the episode dealing with the power plant dumping nuclear waste into the water, thus deforming the fish, making him have here eyes.  Blinky by all accounts shouldn’t be alive from the toxins in his system, much like the mice who “were found to have extremely high levels of lead and arsenic in their blood and fat from feeding on chipped paint, yet they seemed to be immune to these poisons.  The second picture of the Native American crying is in relation to the garbage episode.  The Native American is crying because of what was done to his beautiful land, aka, the people of Springfield turning it into a dump.  This made me think of the Matacão and Mané Pena, the former which turned into a wasteland and the latter who loved it in its original state and had to watch the change happen.  I found it rather amusing that such a surreal book could tie in to one of the most basic dumb/satirical humor shows.  Does anybody else catch any other parallels in this book?  

Magical Realism: Yellow Butterflies, Orange Trees, and Carrier Pigeons

I'm a huge fan of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, so as soon as I heard the words magical realism, I felt a wave of excitement. Garcia's novel spans several generations of the Buendia family and is rich with magical detail. An aging woman shrinks to the size of a raisin, a trickle of blood travels across town, a man devotes himself to crafting golden fish, and a young girl's passion for a greasy mechanic manifests itself in hundreds of yellow butterflies that suffocate the household. It's unreal. 

The omniscient narrator of Yamashita's novel is a ball that floats in front of Kazumasa's face and is his companion, pacifier, battered teddy bear (5). This use of an inhuman character as a narrator reminded me of Giocanda Belli's use of an orange tree as a narrator in The Inhabited Woman. In this instance, the orange tree represents Lavinia's connection to her femininity and the earth. Similarly, Through the Arc of the Rain Forest expresses an intimate relationship with an environment that possesses supernatural powers.

As I recovered from the strangeness of the narrative style and delved further into Yamashita's novel, what struck me was her ability to craft so many extraordinary characters with extraordinary lives. But, what are these separate stories collectively commenting on? In class, we briefly discussed the effect of mass production. The people creating the goods are separated from the ultimate product and profit. This is particularly illustrated in the passage:

"When the lace ribbon reached its final destination- the trim on a woman's blouse or negligee or the delicate border of a fine linen tablecloth- it had been bought for a hundred times the money Dona Maria Crueza had received for it. Gilberto knew nothing of the price of his lace, which was as ephemeral as the changing shadows of the banana tree and the foam at the edges of the land where he was born and had always lived" (26). 

Here we not only see the nature of industry, but the juxtaposition of the natural world with the material. Yamashita is constantly placing the magical and the material/industrial in the same space to create tension. For example, the perceptive messages that Batista ties to the leg of his carrier pigeon result in a regular spectacle where vendors sell everything from cotton candy to lottery tickets, and after Chico Paco builds an altar, "the clergy [attempt] to capitalize on the possible spiritual magnetism of the Matacao" (49). The action builds and soon exotic birds are being exploited for their plumage, pigeons are being exploited for advertising, and anything and everything is being crafted from plastic. We have an intimate relationship with nature, but we are constantly monopolizing on its beauty and magic. The consequence is the destruction of romantic relationships, deterioration of the environment, illness, and death.

An Early Perspective on Through the Arc of the Rain Forest

I am currently 25 pages into Karen Tei Yamashita's Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, and I am hooked. After drudging through Faust, this book feels like a breath of fresh air. Reading through each character's introductory chapter I love how each character seems that they have some kind of supernatural tie to nature and to each other. Each seems to have a finite purpose in their lives and I'm very interested to see how their storylines bring them together. A point which I found to be particularly interesting is the POV from which the narrator is telling the story. Although he/she/it(?) floats only six inches in front of one of the character's face, this tiny ball presents a very original, otherworldly, and omniscient point of view. Between this class and my Lit 499 I've felt like I've been reading many books at a very quick pace which I haven't really been able to enjoy, but thus far I am really enjoying this book and I look forward to seeing where this tiny floating ball of a narrator takes me.

Defining Reality and what is Right as a Central Theme

It is interesting that in The Home and the World, Candide, and Faust there is a common theme of the search for what is right. In The Home and the World citizens search for the "right" answer to the Swadeshi movement and try to figure out how they should reshape and define not only their homeland, but themselves, specifically in Bimala's case her free-will and sexuality. In Candide, perspective is analysed in its impact on the larger world around the characters. In a way it explores the concept of the truth and right in the world through the radically different opinions of it in a way dichotomous characters. In Faust, Goethe allows readers to follow along Faust journey through such a seemingly normal reality that is turned upside down when he makes a pact with Mephistopheles, this pact with the devil which so skews Faust's previous reality completely makes the plot and protagonist, even the reader, lose clear sight of the original and true reality. Faust's request in itself of Mephistopheles to give him the worst and let him feel no pleasure is in itself so unworldly. This intangible concept begins to turn the tables in the novel. After this event Goethe's slowly explores the human condition and right and wrong through Faust's journey and the difference between Faust before and after the pact. Faust's reality becomes so skewed that it reaches a point where he raises to his lips the poison that he himself has brewed (732-735). Suicide is often accounted for by those with conditions that cause humans to lose sight of reality. I believe the search for the concept of reality and truth is the driving force in this novel. What is so appealing about the concept of the devil and why similar archetypes constantly can be found in literature spanning all time periods, is because the theme of of reality and truth runs rampant in the collective unconscious. Human nature urges to define a a truth or reality and that it what I believe ultimately drives Faust to raise the poison to his lips, not his extreme suffering but because he cannot form hope in a reality he cannot even grasp. I believe that at the base of many examples of world literature we can find this concept and not only can we definitely in Faust but I believe exploring wrong and right to define a reality is the driving force of the novel.

This theme can be found in many current examples of media, musics, and writing as it truly is a theme ingrained in the collective unconscious. A extremely recent example of the appeal of this concept is the popular movie Inception where movie watchers watch the impact of changing realities in defining one's truth. Similarly in the movie Adjustment Bureau discovering that reality might be skewed causes the main character to take charge of his life and define what is real to him on his own. This concept is not only found in recent media but throughout the history of literature and I believe it to be important to Faust's journey in Goethe's Faust.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66TuSJo4dZM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZJ0TP4nTaE