From Realism to Neo-realism to Magical Realism: The Algebra of Memory

This essay studies realism's trajectory as it is articulated in neo-realism and magical realism, and it attempts to establish a middle ground between the Auerbach-Watt perspective which favours the view of realism as having an empiric connectedness with the real and Barthes's approach which sees the language of historicity in terms of 'memory' and 'algebra'. The two test-cases chosen are Tomas Gutierrez Alea's Memorias del subdesarrollo (1968) and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Cien anos de soledad (1967). Drawing on Gilles Deleuze's work, this article argues that Titon's film echoes neo-realism's fascination with the protagonist as 'voyant', and that it re-invests the traditional shot-reverse shot with the cinematic energy of the 'time-image'. It subsequently argues that Gabo's magical realism has a back-story which includes not only - as the traditional argument goes, journalism and the 'realism' of his life as a child in Aracataca (for which the barometer is his autobiography, Vivir para contarla; 2002) - but also his early fascination with Italian neo-realist cinema.