Magical realism in the narratives of Maxine Hong Kingston, Toni Morrison, and William Kennedy: Replenishment and validation for the liminal experience in America

Magical realism, usually linked with Latin American writers, has also made an impact on contemporary American narratives. This genre has always been associated with political/cultural implications and continues these predilections within the narratives of Maxine Hong Kingston, Toni Morrison, and William Kennedy. For these three writers, the fantastic acts to replenish and validate the American liminal experience. Although their respective literary voices, types of supernatural interventions, and of course, communities of marginalized characters are dramatically different, their collective use of magical realism serves to redefine Chinese-Americans, African-Americans, and Irish-Americans as social outcasts through the lens of an alternative, fantastic worldview.