's Going After Cacciato
(1978)Magical Realism and Tim
O'Brien's Going After Cacciato
(1978)
Magical Realism is a stylistic creation that originated from Latin America.
The Vietnam War was surreal and absurd to many who lived through it. Tim O'Brien lived through it and became a writer who tried to capture its unreal elements. Going After Cacciato participates in magical realism or a fantastic exploration of reality. The journey west that the characters make is much like the fantastic journey that the Monkey King makes fighting for enlightenment in Chinese mythology. The novel by O'Brien has elements of magic and terror mixed together. Ultimately we come to believe that perhaps nothing in the novel actually occurred. Nothing makes sense. Yet that seems to define the war.
Perhaps, Magical Realism expresses the Vietnam War perfectly. In the 1960's, the Puritanism and Positivism of America begins to erode as protests against the war increased.
Reader's Companion:
http://www.randomhouse.com/resources/bookgroup/goingaftercacciato_bgc.html
Tim O'Brien Homepage: http://www.illyria.com/tobhp.html
Read More about Magical Realism
This literary phenomenon was created out of a need, which developed because of historical and cultural demands. Its ontological origins stem from the fact that the New World that was discovered had fantastic elements which were considered real: the Fountain of Youth, streets made out of gold, mermaids swimming off of its coasts, and ancient civilizations with strange new animals never before seen, new fruits never before eaten, and new dangers never before encountered. With all these spectacular occurrences, the fantastic was never really fictionally based in Latin American literature. It was real.
Thus, writers such as Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel Garcia Marquez really never had to create a new way of writing; they were simply expressing the reality that is Latin America.
Another factor that influences Magical Realism is Catholicism with its Cult of the Saints. Many Latin Americans believe in witches and magic and miracles. Miraculous experiences are a part of the Bible, where dead men can rise and ghosts can visit the living. The factor of syncretism, where the religions of Catholicism and Native Indian mix, is a strong way of life for Latin Americans. The Ancient spirits of the gods from the Aztecs and Mayans mix with the saints and spirits of Catholicism. This mixing of gods becomes a strong factor in countries with large Indian populations such as Guatemala and Mexico.
Magical Realism did not happen in America on a great scale because of its Positivism, Protestantism and Enlightening view of the world. Thomas Jefferson's life exemplified this American credo of enlightenment. It was said that he had a Bible where he crossed out all references to miracles. He thought there was truth in the Bible but that certain parts were to be questioned; e.g., miracles were simply myths to please less enlightened minds.
Many Americans are more likely to believe in UFO's or in some type of life in outer space (X-files or Star Trek) than in some fantastic miracles. However, in Latin America, the idea that a neighbor might float in her sleep at night while dreaming of a saint (something that might happen in a Garcia Marquez novel) is not so strange, and one could even throw in some UFO's for fun. The magical possibilities are endless. In conclusion, for the rest of the Americas, Latin America, a different way of viewing reality exists. Magical Realism merely reflects that vision (From My World Literature 2 Notes).