Family Lore

Magical realism is a literary genre characterized by its blend of fantastical and ordinary elements. The term was introduced in 1927 by German art critic Franz Roh as “magischer realismus,” which he used to describe a new German style of painting that emphasized the fantastical elements of ordinary objects. “Magical realism” was coined in 1955 by literary critic Angel Flores, who named Jorge Luis Borges the first magical realist for his collection of short stories Historia Universal de la Infamia (1935). Some argue Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (1915) was the first popular example of magical realism, but nevertheless, the genre became popular in Latin America, and its writers made the genre what it is today.

Unlike traditional fantasy, magical realists create stories wherein magic is part of the mundane. Their worlds often draw inspiration from cultural traditions, folklore, and mythology. In Elizabeth Acevedo’s Family Lore, Flor’s ability to foretell deaths through dreams of her teeth crumbling is inspired by Latin American symbolism, wherein teeth are associated with health. Usually, magical realists omit explanation of magic to further reinforce its normalcy. Acevedo follows this tradition, as characters only know “the women in [the Marte] family get struck by an unknown lightning rod. Charged with a newfound gift that has rules unto itself but is unlike that aunt’s or this cousin’s or [their] mother’s” (70). Since magical realism grew popular in areas exploited by Western powers, magic is often reflective of sociohistorical issues. Thus, the genre offers critique of injustices such as American imperialism, as seen in the work of famous magical realists Gabriel García Márquez and Isabel Allende.

Acevedo, Márquez, and Allende’s stories usually do not follow a traditional (linear) narrative arc with a clear beginning, middle, and end. As the plot is freed of this structure, the reading experience becomes fraught with anticipation. Acevedo uses this freedom to make her final chapter an abstract, the initial section of Ona’s research project—thus making the ending the beginning of the novel, the culmination of Ona’s research on her family. Overall, magical realism provides an opportunity to disrupt the conventional and observe the magical in everyday life, be it in textual structure or ingenuity.