Listening to a recent PRI Selected Shorts podcast I encountered a delightful example of magical realism. The short story's title, "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" practically defines magical realism: a fantastic premise treated as casually as any normal part of life.
The premise for the story is classic spec fiction stuff, and could easily produce a fantasy, science fiction, or even supernatural or horror tale. But instead of spinning the speculative premise into fictional world, Russell inserted the fantastic premise into the real world- then made it squirm to fit in. The conflict of the story becomes whether or not these weird, wild little girls will be tamed by the sisters of St. Lucy's, and eventually be able to adapt to normal life.
Strengths of the story include the use of concrete detail to make the girls raised by wolves and St. Lucy's Home seem equally real. And a liberal use of humor endears the protagonist and her sisters to the reader through her innocent, and often funny candor. But I think what really makes the story tick is that magical realism is so central to its conflict. The bizarre isn't simply present in the real world- the bizarre world and the normal world actually vie for the girls' fates. I'm interested to read some further magical realism, and to see whether this conflict between the real and the fantastic is a core convention of magical realism.
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