(1) The Fantastic

The fantastic is anything that bends the rules of reality as we know it. Ghosts, flying people, magic, talking animals—that sort of stuff doesn't happen in reality (okay, as far as we know), but it's always just around the corner in Magic Realism.

(2) The Mundane

The mundane is the opposite of the fantastic. It's the everyday stuff: sleeping, eating, family, work. So maybe it's not the most exciting stuff to read about, but it totally heightens the sense of realism you get when you're reading a story or a novel.

(3) Matter-of-Fact Narrative Style

Magic Realist writers often use a deadpan, even voice, without a lot of fancy, flowery language—even when what they're talking about is out of this world. For example, they might describe someone growing wings and flying away as if it were the most normal, everyday thing in the world.

(4) Hybridity

Hybridity basically means mixing it up. In the case of Magic Realism, what we're talking about is the way these writers mix up reality with fantasy, fact with fiction, the mundane with the extraordinary.

(5) Time

Magic Realist writers do some weird things with time. In Magic Realist literature, time may be circular instead of linear, or it could jump around and go back and forth from past to future, or it could just seem to stand permanently still. Anything can happen in Magic Realist time.

(6) Incorporation of Myths

Myths are ancient stories handed down from one generation to the next. They often tell of the origins of a group of people, or they give meaning to things like birth and death. Myths are often kinda sorta religious, and they also tend to feature a boatload of supernatural beings like gods, ghosts, demons, spirits—you name it. Magic Realist writers often turn to myths for inspiration and make use of the fantastic elements of myths in their own works.

(7) Political Critique

Magic Realism ain't all about ghosts and fairies: you'll find a good dose of political critique here, too. Magic Realist writers often critique political oppression through the disguise of the fantastic or the extraordinary.

(8) Latin American Boom

This boom was so loud it was heard all over the world. What was it? Well, it was an explosion of literary production by a group of Latin American writers from the 1960s to the 1980s, and it led to the popularization of Magic Realism all over the world.

(9) Surrealism

Surrealism was an avant-garde movement in the visual arts and literature that developed in the 1920s in Europe. It was all about tossing all sorts of unconnected things together, with a focus on the irrational and the nonsensical. Here's a Surrealist image: a man with the body of a shoe. Here's another one: a bunch of melting clocks on a beach.

(10) Novel and Short Story

The novel and the short story are the two genres that are most closely associated with Magic Realism. Back in the day, Realism grew out of the narrative prose style of the novel and short story. Magic Realist writers continued to use these genres, but they added a magical twist to them. So, you know: Magic Realism.