Time in Magic Realism
Time does some weird stuff in Magic Realist literature. Sometimes it loops back instead of moving forward. Sometimes it zigzags all over the place, or skips forward, or stays still and doesn't move. It can be hard to know where you stand when you're digging into some Magic Realism. It's sort of like how in Groundhog Day the same day keeps happening over and over and over again, even though everything else seems to be normal.
That's the kind of thing you'll find in Magic Realism, where time doesn't behave in the way you'd expect it to behave in the real world. For Magic Realists, time isn't this predictable, reliable thing that progresses from one second to the next; it isn't linear.
Chew on This
Want to see just how warped time is in Rushdie's Midnight's Children? Check out this quote (Quote #3) from the novel.
Time is also a big theme in Jorge Luis Borges's short story, "The Garden of Forking Paths." Check out our analysis of the time theme here.