LotR, an Edwardian Adventure Story?

[Lalwendë]

I'm unfamiliar with Magic Realism. Could you expand, please, Lal?

Well, at one level, it's the fantasy that it is OK for the literati to like. But being serious, it's fiction where the boundaries of reality and fantasy are blurred, it is often associated with South American writers (though by no means is exclusive to them) and plays about with the readers' perceptions of time, gender, history etc. It is sometimes political, satirical, and often strays far into the genres of fantasy and sci-fi. The main difference between magic realism and edwardian adventure stories is that in the former, there are few clear boundaries between right and wrong.

The most famous writer would probably be Gabriel Garcia Marquez; Isabel Allende's House of the Spirits, a weird mix of politics, ghosts and girls born with green hair is one of my favourite books. There is also Angela Carter who explored fairy stories in much of her fiction (the film Company of Wolves is based on one of her short stories), taking a feminist perspective and creating incredible magic One of her characters may or may not have had wings - I wonder if fans debate the issue in the manner of the balrog wing debate. Salman Rushdie is sometimes classed in the genre but it has a really wide scope - sometimes Neil Gaiman is included, and I'd say Susanna Clarke's novel also strays into the territory.

It is not secondary world fantasy but nor is it reality. Nature, history, enchantment, cruelty, ghosts, demons, eccentrics, almost anything goes as long as it adds to the sense of 'magic'.