A literary genre or mode. There is no general agreement over exactly what it means, although it is agreed that the following works are magic realist:

* ''Illywhacker''; PeterCarey (Australia)
* ''Nights at the Circus''; AngelaCarter (UK)
* ''Immortality''; MilanKundera (Czech Republic)
* ''One Hundred Years of Solitude''; GabrielGarciaMarquez (Colombia)
* ''Midnight's Children'' and ''Shame''; SalmanRushdie (UK/India)
* ''Waterland''; GrahamSwift (UK)
* Many short stories by JorgeLuisBorges.
* ''Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord'' and sequels; LouisDeBernieres

Other writers often identified as magic realists include FranzKafka and UmbertoEco.

Magic realism is realist, mimetic writing which contains fantastic elements. ''Shame'' is a particularly good example: it concerns the history surrounding a military coup in Pakistan, but as well as power-hungry generals, corrupt bureaucrats and the odd noble hero, it has one character, a general's daughter, who runs off into the countryside and devolves into a beast, hypnotizing crowds of men and tearing their heads off. The juxtaposition of the completely real and the completely unreal is seamless and shocking, and cannot be dismissed as a detail, as it is crucial to the resolution of the story.

''My mom handed me down the book ''Towards the End of Time'' by John Updike. It was readable but not earthshaking. But now I understand his special effects gimmicks were following a named genre. If I could be disillusioned about JU's prowess, I would be now. >sigh< -- PhlIp''

----
You know this kind of stuff would probably be better off on BookShelved. ''as would all book and author references''

I think that would require at least a pact between Ward and Laurent regarding page transplants.