From art to literature: Magic realism in 'Like Water for Chocolate' and 'Mangos, Bananas and Coconuts' (Laura Esquivel, Mexico, Himilce Novas, painting)

The term magic realism is a relatively new designation for an art style, and even newer for a literary mode. During the past seventy-five years, art critics and literary critics alike have attempted to define magic realism, each within his own discipline. It now appears that a single set of tendencies connects fiction and pictoral art, two very different forms of art. This thesis explores the use of specific magic realism tendencies as defined by Seymour Menton in Magic Realism Rediscovered: 1918-1981. The study also includes an investigation of existing tendencies in Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, Mangos, Bananas and Coconuts by Himilce Novas, and a variety of paintings categorized as magic realism art. Exploring the similarities and differences that exist in the two disciplines through the tendencies reveals a link, connecting magic realism art style and magic realism literary mode.