Review of Catching Butterflies: Bringing Magical Realism to Ground, by Maria Takolander
Abstract
Maria Takolander’s ambitious project, Catching Butterflies: Bringing Magical Realism to Ground, seeks to clear up the confusion surrounding the literary term ‘magical realism’, an oxymoron which Takolander says has become ‘a dumping ground for the convenient disposal of any iction that deviates from or experiments with the rules of realism’ (15). The difficulty in defining and the confusion surrounding the term are, as Takolander argues, not alleviated by critical discussions which amount at times to what she considers ‘popular misconceptions’ (15), misreadings, and vague definitions of the label.
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Published 1 June 2009 in Volume 24 No. 2. Subjects: Magical Realism.
Cite as: Schwalm, Tanja. ‘Review of Catching Butterflies: Bringing Magical Realism to Ground, by Maria Takolander.’ Australian Literary Studies, vol. 24, no. 2, 2009, doi: 10.20314/als.5723863fbb.