Defining Works of Magical Realism

When the iconic Columbian writer Gabriel García Márquez died on April 17 of this year at the age of 87, it renewed an interest in magical realism because he was frequently credited with propagating this genre on a global level. Since then, authors from around the world have embraced the style. While one would be hard put to make 'the ultimate list' of its most influential books, here are, in no particular order, some must-reads that are sure to expand your literary horizons:
The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
It is difficult to choose only one book by Marquez for this list! However, One Hundred Years of Solitude must surely feature. This is the multi-generational story of the Buendía family in the fictional Columbian utopia of Macondo, but it can also be read as an allegory of the history of South America. It is about love and war, is full of visions, ghosts, languid women who live under clouds of butterflies and a secret prophecy, that is fulfilled the moment it is deciphered. Jose Arcadio Buendía is the patriarch of the family who creates Macondo through his own delusions. His wife Úrsula Iguarán lives to be 130 years old and presides over the family for that many years.

The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
This novel works as a satire of the Soviet Union by contrasting the story of a literary circle in Soviet Russia to the Jerusalem of Pontius Pilate, who is struggling over his legal workload. In the Russian part of the book, the Devil visits a prestigious literary organization in the form of a professor and proceeds to wreck havoc on the writers with the help of his giant, gun-toting black cat named Behemoth and other curious characters. An uncensored version wasn't published until 1962, but The Master and Margarita stands as one of the great works of satire as well as magical realism

The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende
Considered to be the first book to give magical realism a female voice, The House of the Spirits was published in 1982. It made a literary star of the Chilean Isabel Allende.  It explores the tumultuous political climate of Allende's native Chile, something that she can speak about with authority, as the ousted Communist Chilean president Salvador Allende was her cousin. Salvador Allende was murdered during the military coup by Augusto Pinochet in 1973 even though he had been democratically elected. The House of the Spirits looks at Chile through the eyes of four generations of the de Valle and Trueba families, particularly focusing on the women and engages themes of magical realism, including the character Clara who has psychic powers.

Beloved, Toni Morrison
African-American writer Toni Morrison, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, sets this novel in post-Civil War Ohio, where a former slave named Sethe escapes before the war ends. Under the Fugitive Slave Act, Sethe's owners come after her and her children before slavery is abolished. Rather than allow her children to be captured and taken back to the horrifying plantation in Kentucky that owns her, Sethe kills her two-year-old daughter and attempts to kill her three other children. In the present time of the novel, which is years after the end of the war, Sethe is still haunted by the murder of her baby – Beloved. When a young girl around the age Beloved would have been shows up on the family's doorstep, Sethe delusionally believes her daughter has returned and increasingly has her life force sucked out by the girl's ghostly presence. A haunting examination of slavery and motherhood, Beloved is considered to be one of the greatest American novels of all time.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami
Japanese writer Haruki Murakami is a popular contemporary writer influenced by magical realism, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is one of Murakami's most widely-known books. It follows the unemployed and lost Toru Okada, who lives in suburban Japan with his bread-winning wife. Shortly after their pet cat runs away, his wife too mysteriously disappears and Okada is forced out of his inaction to decipher what has happened to his family. The book becomes more and more magical as Okada emerges from his passivity.

Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie examines British colonial rule of India and India's transition into independence in his most famous work, Midnight's Children. The book's main character and narrator, Saleem, is born at the exact moment that India becomes an independent nation, possesses psychic abilities, and has an incredibly sensitive sense of smell. Saleem figures out that all of the children in India born between midnight and 1 a.m. on the day the country became independent have varying types of special powers. He organizes the group and refers to them as “Midnight's children.” Like Márquez and Bulgakov, Rushdie uses magical realism to explore an oppressive regime.

Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel
In a style that is epic in scope yet intensely personal in focus, Laura Esquivel's Like Water For Chocolate tells the story of Tita De La Garza, the youngest daughter in a family living in Mexico at the turn of the twentieth century. Through twelve chapters, each marked as a "monthly installment", we learn of Tita's struggle to pursue true love and claim her independence. Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life became a best-selling phenomenon with its winning blend of poignant romance and bittersweet wit. Esquivel features a recipe at the beginning of each chapter. The main episodes of each chapter generally involve the preparation or consumption of the dishes that these recipes yield. This novel will titillate the foodie in you from the very first page and leave you satisfied as a reader till the last page.