A Comparative Study Of Magical Realism In Song Of Solomon And The Abandoned Capital

Based on the literary theory, magical realism, this thesis makes a comparative study of Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison and The Abandoned Capital by Jia Pingwa mainly on the universality of their themes and the application of magical elements and narrative techniques.As an Africa American writer, Toni Morrison accepted magical realism easily. In her early life, she has plenty of experiences related to native myths and legends, which corresponds to her magical realist writing well, In Song of Solomon, Morrison combined Africa American myths and magical elements with the application of magical narrative techniques to show the black’s soul journey since they lived in a society which is surrounded by white people and dominated by white culture. Jia Pingwa, as an innovative writer, had benefited from reading and studying foreign excellent works greatly. During1980s, particularly after Garcia Marquez received Nobel Prize for his One Hundred Years of Solitude, China began to introduce and translate Latin American works and magical realism began to attract Chinese writers’attention. Jia Pingwa is one of the writers who have been influenced by magical realism, In The Abandoned Capital, Jia Pingwa focused on people’s basic and universal spiritual world instead of just describing the social changes under the influence of the Reform and Opening Up. He has merged the myths, superstition beliefs and practices and weird events existing in his hometown Shangzhou, into his work and applied modern writing methods, which characterized The Abandoned Capital with strong flavors of localism and magical realism.Through comparative study, the thesis analyzes the magical realism factors existing in both novels to prove that Toni Morrison and Jia Pingwa both of them have been influenced by magical realism. Living in different societies and cultures Toni Morrison and Jia Pingwa have adopted similar magical factors existing in their own life and applied the same magical narrative skills and created fine works which taken deeply local and unique culture connotations, which indicates the existence of something common and universal among different cultures. Those commonness and universality existing above all cultures are the bridge if communication for people all over the world. This thesis analyzes the two novels from the two traits of magical realism. The first is their thematic universality and the second is their application of magical elements and narrative techniques such as mythic background setting, the existence of ghost, multi point of view, juxtaposition, symbol and others.