「魔幻寫實」非「奇幻」?!─Taking Notes: 'Magic realism: not fantasy. Sorry.' (2008) by Jon Evans

雖然很多人認為「魔幻寫實」（magic realism）算是「奇幻」（fantasy）的一種，但就算在行內也有人抱持不同的看法，本文便是一例。儘管我不贊同這種區分方式，或把「奇（科）幻性」光譜化（因為每道光譜極可能都不一樣），但本文還是有其值得參考的地方。我個人把「魔幻寫實」算作「奇幻」的理由其實很簡單：要是不算的話，部分作家作品，像 John Crowley、Kelly Link，乃至於 Jeff VanderMeer 等就很難歸類了。但本文與其說是討論奇幻與魔幻寫實的分類，結果倒不如說是闡述文學作品往往適時反映出人類殘酷鬥爭的本質。

閱讀出處：
Jon Evans, "Magic realism: not fantasy. Sorry." in Tor.com

劃重點：
paragraph 5:
作者認為奇幻中的魔法是有系統的。

Fantasy magic is systematic: there are rules, if implicit, dictating who can perform it, and what it can do, and how. Distinctions are drawn between magicians and Muggles, enchanted items and normal kitchenware. Magic is extraordinary, supernatural, paranormal—anything but quotidian—and the staggering implications of its existence are explored and illustrated.

下一段並以 Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell（《英倫魔法師》）為例說明。

paragraph 7:
舉 One Hundred Years of Solitude（《百年孤寂》）的例子，說明「魔幻寫實」中的魔法本質。

...... But all this magic [in magic realism] is random, chaotic, surreal, of no lasting consequence to any but those who experience it; and all these supernatural events are told in the same casual, matter-of-fact tone used to describe lunches and money problems. ......

paragraph 8:
進一步闡述魔幻寫實中的魔法，但作者認為不能因為其缺乏系統架構，就輕率認定其為「壞奇幻」。

It might be easy to read the above paragraph and think “So the magic in magic realism is just a bunch of random, arbitrary weird stuff happening, with no consistency and no examination of the ramifications?” And, well, you wouldn’t entirely be wrong. But if you went on to conclude that this is just bad fantasy—honestly, you couldn’t make a worse mistake. ......

paragraph 10:
闡述「魔幻寫實」和「奇幻」並非完全對立二分，而是存在一種光譜的型態。

...... “Magic realism” and “fantasy” are a false dichotomy. Better to imagine a spectrum, with what I’m going to call “surreal fantasy” to the left and “systematic fantasy” on the right.〔以下舉例哪些作品該擺在哪裡。〕

paragraph 12:
說明 "surreal fantasy" 的意義在於描寫「真實世界當中的真實奮鬥」。

...... Surreal fantasy is more celebrated partly because by its nature it tends to use magic mostly to illuminate and explore its characters. But more importantly, surreal fantasy, far more than systematic, is about the real struggles of our real world.

接下來是我認為本文中最值得思考討論的方向：奇幻和魔幻寫實因為分別出自不同區域的作家，所以才有不同的概念。
paragraph 13:

...... Systematic fantasy tends to come from Western writers, who live in nations where “peace, order, and good government” (to use that wonderful Canadian phrase) more or less rule. ......

paragraph 14:

Surreal fantasy comes from more troubled lands. ...... Their magic is random, surreal and arbitrary because their worlds are random, surreal and arbitrary.

下一段並以哥倫比亞的政經狀況為例加以說明。最後產生一個令人感傷的結論：
paragraph 16:

When you live amid papered-over blood-soaked horror, like Nigeria’s Biafran civil war and corrupt dictatorships, India’s partition and Emergency, and Colombia’s La Violencia, then the surreal becomes normal and the insane becomes rational. That’s the well that magic realism draws from. What the surreal fantasists have to say about desperation and tragedy and violence is more powerful because, alas, the desperation and tragedy and violence they’re writing about isn’t fantastic at all.