Part XX: Atwood/Süskind/Bulgakov/Frayn/Helprin/García Márquez/Kafka/Calvino

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Masters of Fantasy: Part XX

With this, I reach my twentieth entry on this blog. I really hope that some people have got something out of it. I mean, I know you can't simply pick up everything right away, as reading takes time, but I would hope that I've gotten people interested in the history of fantasy and introduced some heretofore forgotten authors that should be remembered better. If I weren't so lazy, I'd probably have more entries already, but I thank you all for keeping up with me as I go along.

Today's batch, with a couple exceptions, is mostly connected with the term "magic realism", which basically realistic storytelling infused with fantastic elements; it's a movement that has a large following in Central American countries, as well as other European nations, though the American/English side has some big names behind it. It's often debated whether this can be classified as fantasy per se, but I personally think it qualifies, so I'm pleased to share it with you. The topic deserves more analysis elsewhere, and I'd be glad to discuss it more. So here are some names worth checking out.



MARGARET ATWOOD (1939- )

One of the most respected Canadian authors today, Margaret Atwood began her career at an early age, writing plays and poems at age six, although she hadn't set about it professionally until age 16. She published her first novel, The Edible Woman, in 1969, although her breakthrough wouldn't come until 1972's Surfacing, after which she would start a close association with feminism, Canadian identity, politics, and other issues. Some of her works have been classified as speculative fiction to differentiate them from typical science fiction tropes. One of her most recognizable works is The Handmaid's Tale, a dystopian story set in a theocratic society in which women are made subservient to the men in charge; metafictional elements can be found in The Blind Assassin, and themes of apocalypse and climate change figure into the MaddAdam Trilogy (Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAdam). Supported by an associative body of literary and historical fiction, Atwood is one of the premiere figures in 20th- and 21st-century literature.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/atwood_margaret)
Margaret Atwood's Website (http://margaretatwood.ca/)
The Margaret Atwood Society (https://atwoodsociety.org/)
The Guardian – Light in the Wilderness: A Profile of Margaret Atwood (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/apr/26/fiction.margaretatwood)
Poetry Foundation: Margaret Atwood (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/margaret-atwood)
Literary Hub – Margaret Atwood on How She Came to Write The Handmaid's Tale (https://lithub.com/margaret-atwood-on-how-she-came-to-write-the-handmaids-tale/)
The Paris Review – The Art of Fiction, No. 121: Margaret Atwood (https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2262/margaret-atwood-the-art-of-fiction-no-121-margaret-atwood)



PATRICK SÜSKIND (1949- )

Little is known about the private life of German author and screenwriter Patrick Süskind, who lives reclusively without intrusion from public interviews and photographers. What is known is that he is the son of a famous journalist and has many aristocratic relatives; he studied medieval and modern history but never graduated. Perhaps his most successful work is his sole novel, Das Parfum, translated into English as Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, a historical mystery-horror-magic realist tale of a young man born with a superhuman sense of smell, isolated socially from the world around him, who soon takes to murder to find the perfect scent; a best seller in Germany for nine years, it was an international success, translated into 49 languages and selling 20 million copies worldwide, even winning the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1987.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Süskind)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=suskind_patrick +)
GradeSaver – Biography of Patrick Süskind (https://www.gradesaver.com/author/patrick-suskind)
The SF Site – Review of Perfume (https://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/perfume.html)
The New York Times – Archived Interview/Review (https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/09/books/success-of-smell-is-sweet-for-new-german-novelist.html)
Black Gate – A Dash of the Past: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (https://www.blackgate.com/2012/12/19/a-dash-of-the-past-perfume-the-story-of-a-murderer/)
Black Gate – In Defense of an Abominable Personage: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind (https://www.blackgate.com/2017/05/31/in-defense-of-an-abominable-personage-perfume-the-story-of-a-murderer-by-patrick-suskind/)



MIKHAIL BULGAKOV (1891-1940)

Mikhail Bulgakov worked as a doctor during WWI and the Russian Civil War before subsequent illnesses led him to become a writer, publishing works that combined satire and science fiction like Diaboliad, The Fatal Eggs, and Heart of a Dog, in addition to acclaimed theater productions. Some of them, however, couldn't be published in the new Soviet climate, and those that did see the light of day were often criticized for being unsupportive of the regime, but Bulgakov managed to attain the personal protection of Stalin himself, which probably saved his life. His masterpiece, unpublished in his lifetime for fear of the response, was The Master and Margarita, a biting satirical fantasy in which the Devil himself appears in atheist Russia with a monstrous retinue in tow, while an unnamed writer struggles with an important biography of Jesus Christ; first released in a censored format in 1967, with an unabridged version following in 1973, the book has been regarded as one of the crowning achievements of the 20th century and a resonant milestone in Russian literature.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bulgakov)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=bulgakov_mikhail)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/bulgakov_mikhail)
Encyclopedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mikhail-Bulgakov)
The Library of Congress – Mikhail Bulgakov in the Western World: A Bibliography (https://www.loc.gov/rr/european/bulgaklc.html)
The Guardian – Baddies in Books: Woland, Bulgakov's Charming Devil (https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/mar/03/baddies-in-books-woland-devil-master-and-margarita)
The Guardian – Satan and Satire: Sympathy for the Devil in The Master and Margarita (https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/jun/14/sympathy-for-the-master-and-margarita-devil-mikhail-bulgakov)
The Guardian – How Did the Master and Margarita Become Bulgakov's Title Characters? (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jun/21/how-did-the-master-and-margarita-become-bulgakovs-title-characters-reading-group)
Conceptual Fiction – The Master and Margarita (http://www.conceptualfiction.com/master_and_margarita.html)



MICHAEL FRAYN (1933- )

Michael Frayn is one of the leading British authors and playwrights of the 20th and 21st centuries, first coming into notice as a satirical reporter for both The Guardian and The Observer; he is also highly regarded for his translations of Anton Chekhov's works. His best-known work may be the farce Noises Off, about a theatrical production gone comically wrong, as well as the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy. Of his highly acclaimed novels, two are of interest to speculative fiction. A Very Private Life is a science fiction story about the social divide in a future society between those who live in an isolated environment fueled by drug-induced torpor and those in the untamed ruined wilderness. Sweet Dreams is a fantasy in which an English architect suddenly finds himself in a Heaven tailored to his own wants and desires, even getting the opportunity to start a partnership with God.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Frayn)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=frayn_michael)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/frayn_michael)
British Council: Literature – Michael Frayn (https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/michael-frayn)
Encyclopedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michael-Frayn)
The Neglected Books Page – Sweet Dreams (http://neglectedbooks.com/?p=35)



MARK HELPRIN (1947- )

Being the son of a film producer and a stage actress, Mark Helprin, a Harvard graduate, seemed born for the limelight, but he chose the path of a writer instead, identifying with no school of thought or movement except his own personal style. He has contributed to numerous periodicals, including The New Yorker, Claremont Review of Books, and The New York Times, as well as having won a few prestigious honors. His most well-known work for adults is Winter's Tale, a modern fairy tale of sorts set in a mythic New York city featuring a time-traveling young man and a magical white horse; it has ben well-received as one of the key magic realism texts of American literature, getting a glowing recommendation in the New York Times Book Review. Also of note is his Swan Lake Trilogy written for children and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg, comprising Swan Lake, A City in Winter, and The Veil of Snows, following a displaced princess who must reclaim her kingdom. More recent is Freddy and Fredericka, in which a British royal couple (equivalents for Prince Charles and Princess Diana) are sent to America to achieve a great destiny.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Helprin)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=helprin_mark)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/helprin_mark)
Official website (http://markhelprin.com/)
America's Future Foundation – Best of Doublethink Flashback: Interview with Mark Helprin (https://americasfuture.org/best-of-doublethink-flashback-interview-with-mark-helprin/)
The Paris Review – The Art of Fiction, No. 132: Mark Helprin (https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1962/mark-helprin-the-art-of-fiction-no-132-mark-helprin)
Conceptual Fiction – Winter's Tale (http://www.conceptualfiction.com/winters_tale.html)
Tor.com – Chris Lough: Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale Is a Failure That Genre Fans Must Experience (https://www.tor.com/2014/02/11/winters-tale-is-a-failure-that-genre-fans-must-experience/)
The Guardian – Season's Reading: Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin (https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/dec/14/season-s-readings-mark-helprin)
The New York Times – Archived Review: Winter's Tale (https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/04/books/winters-tale.html)



GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ (1927-2014)

In the 20th century and beyond, perhaps no other writer is so linked with magic realism as Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, one of the greatest and most respected writers in the Spanish language, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. Influenced tremendously by the storytelling techniques of his grandparents, Gabo (as he is affectionately called) sought to convey a singular type of story, one in which the fantastic and the marvelous occurred with as much nonchalance as the mundane, first achieving success with this synthesis in his best-known novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, about the generations of the founding family in the fictional Colombian town of Macondo; since its 1967 publication, it has been held as one of the best novels in the Spanish literary canon and helped spark the Latin American Boom of the 1960s and 1970s. More novels and novellas would follow a similar style, such as The Autumn of the Patriarch, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Love in the Time of Cholera, The General in His Labyrinth, Of Love and Other Demons, and Memories of My Melancholy Whores. Despite coming into conflict with numerous politicians during his life, his death in 2014 was mourned nationally, and he remains a central figure of Latin American culture.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_García_Márquez)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=garcia_marquez_gabriel)
Conceptual Fiction – One Hundred Years of Solitude (http://www.conceptualfiction.com/one_hundred_years_of_solitude.html)
Encyclopedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gabriel-Garcia-Marquez)
The Paris Review – The Art of Fiction, No. 69: Gabriel García Márquez (https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3196/gabriel-garcia-marquez-the-art-of-fiction-no-69-gabriel-garcia-marquez)
The New York Times – Obituary of Gabriel García Márquez (https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/books/gabriel-garcia-marquez-literary-pioneer-dies-at-87.html)
Culture Trip – The Best Books by Gabriel García Márquez You Must Read (https://theculturetrip.com/south-america/colombia/articles/the-best-books-by-gabriel-garcia-marquez-you-must-read/)
Vanity Fair – The Secret History of One Hundred Years of Solitude (https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/12/gabriel-garcia-marquez-one-hundred-years-of-solitude-history)
The Guardian – One Hundred Years of Solitude, 50 Years On (https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2017/may/30/one-hundred-years-of-solitude-50-years-on)



FRANZ KAFKA (1883-1924)

Franz Kafka is one of the towering figures in 20th century literature, even though it was never his intention to be so. Trained as a lawyer, he wrote constantly in his spare time while working as an insurance agent; upon his death, most of his work was finally published against his wishes, to the good fortune of lovers of the written word. His bibliography is a mix of the fantastic and the surreal with everyday life, tackling themes of alienation and absurdity in the face of incomprehensible bureaucracy. The Metamorphosis, in which a man finds himself transformed into a giant insect, is considered one of the greatest stories ever written; his novels, such as The Trial and The Castle, are also highly regarded. Today, the term "Kafkaesque" has entered the modern lexicon to describe anything marked by a surreal, senseless complexity with menacing overtones.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=kafka_franz)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/kafka_franz)
Kafka Society of America (http://www.kafkasocietyofamerica.org/)
Franz Kafka Online (http://www.kafka-online.info/)
Encyclopedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Franz-Kafka)



ITALO CALVINO (1923-1985)

Raised with an intense dislike of the ruling National Fascist Party, Italo Calvino would be a lifelong non-conformist, eventually becoming the most translated contemporary Italian author at the time of his death. His surreal, postmodern works are allegorical exercises in fabulism and fairy tales, often reflecting his ambivalence of the prevailing politics of the age. Among his best-known works are the magic realist Our Ancestors trilogy (The Cloven Viscount, The Baron in the Trees, and The Nonexistent Knight), the science fiction collection Cosmicomics, the imaginative Invisible Cities, and the experimental If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. He remains one of the most important names in Italian literature and the contemporary postmodern movement.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italo_Calvino)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=calvino_italo)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/calvino_italo)
Outside the Town of Malbork: A Site for Italo Calvino (http://www.italo-calvino.com/)
Italo Calvino on Myth (http://alangarner.atspace.org/calvino.html)
An Italo Calvino Resource Page (https://www.uky.edu/~eushe2/Pajares/calvino/)
Publisher's Weekly – The 10 Best Italo Calvino Books (https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/58423-the-10-best-italo-calvino-books.html)
The Paris Review – The Art of Fiction, No. 130: Italo Calvino (https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2027/italo-calvino-the-art-of-fiction-no-130-italo-calvino)
The New York Times: Archives – Obituary of Italo Calvino (https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/19/books/italo-calvino-the-novelist-dead-at-61.html)
The New York Times – Jonathan Lethem: Italo for Beginners (https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/20/books/review/italo-for-beginners.html)



That's all I got for now. But more is definitely coming, and I'll try not to keep you waiting for so long; I think I'm beginning to get back into the spirit of doing these again, anyway. I'm open to any comments or suggestions, so feel free to leave them at your leisure. The forum topic certainly hasn't been used in a while, but it can still be found here if anyone wishes to make any more use out of it: http://www.lostpathway.com/index.php/topic,16.0.html#forum