magic realism

American  

Or magical realism

noun

1. a style of painting and literature in which fantastic or imaginary and often unsettling images or events are depicted in a sharply detailed, realistic manner.

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magic realism British  

noun

1. a style of painting or writing that depicts images or scenes of surreal fantasy in a representational or realistic way

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• magic realist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of magic realism

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

“Tigers Are Not Afraid” was a horror film shot through with magic realism, and both those elements find a home in “Night Country.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 14, 2024

In Allen’s fashioning, Black experience is never subject to conventional parameters of time and space, and his magic realism, instead of being performatively exuberant or purposefully provocative, is plainly unsettling and disturbing.

From New York Times • Jun. 18, 2023

Songwriters draw on the grim language of news bulletins, and military terminology, put to literary use, takes on a kind of magic realism.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2023

The queen of magic realism, Isabelle Allende, follows two parallel stories of war and immigration in The Wind Knows My Name.

From BBC • Dec. 26, 2022

It is a work of "magic realism" that demands to be read playfully, not literally.

From Salon • Sep. 3, 2022