The Marvelous Real of Alejo Carpentier:: Interartistic and Transatlantic Implications

Abstract

This article analyzes Alejo Carpentier’s early literary production and his 1948 formulation of the “Marvelous Real” as both a political anti-colonial stance and a paradigm for understanding the relationship between European and Latin American cultures—their mutual differences and potential exchanges. The analysis argues that the concept of Magical Realism, often considered a genre inspired by European literary categories, should instead be reinterpreted as an entirely autochthonous phenomenon of the Americas. It emerges as a distinct product of postcolonial and creolized societies, in which alternative mythical belief systems continued to shape individual identities beneath the homogenizing influence of imposed colonial cultures. The evolution of Carpentier’s literary style—from the initial phase of so-called Negrismo in his novel ¡Écue-Yamba-Ó! (1927–1933) to the articulation of the Marvelous Real in El reino de este mundo (developed through its editions of 1949, 1964, and 1976)—mirrors a growing recognition of Latin America's cultural specificity and the uniqueness of its literature within a global context.