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

• magic realist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of magic realism

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

Additionally, the movement from domestic mayhem to cosmic absurdity evokes the works of Paula Vogel and Sarah Ruhl, American exemplars of magic realism.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2025

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

Season 2 of “Espookys” leveled up its winsome magic realism with a serial story that combined presidential politics and beauty-pageant intrigue, and Ana Fabrega continues to give one of TV’s great screwball performances.

From New York Times • Dec. 1, 2022

Writing back to the empire, asserting its independence in "chutnified" Indian English, this masterpiece of magic realism borrows the device of the storytelling scribe from the "Mahabharata," an ancient Indian epic.

From Salon • Aug. 27, 2022