One Hundred Years of Solitude

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. For many, One Hundred Years of Solitude is the most famous and paradigmatic example of the literary movement known as magical realism. What are the characteristics of magical realism? What is the difference between magical realism and fantasy? What other examples of magical realism have you encountered? With what literary and/or historical period is magical realism associated?

Teaching Suggestion: Magical realism is a literary movement usually characterized by the combination of magic and fantasy with elements of realism. In magical realism, magic and fantasy are naturalized into the realist narrative rather than being presented as extraordinary. Perhaps the best way to define magical realism is through discussing the history of the literary movement, which was developed in particular in Latin American “Boom” fiction of the 1960s and beyond. Some of the most famous representatives of magical realism include Colombian Gabriel García Márquez, Mexican Carlos Fuentes, and Chilean Isabel Allende. In the last few decades, however, magical realism has spread far beyond Latin America, and elements of magical realism can be found in the works of authors as diverse as Salman Rushdie, Toni Morrison, Haruki Murakami, and Neil Gaiman.