Disintegrating bodies: postmodern narrative in Mariaana Jantti's Amorfiaana.(Critical Essay): An article from: Scandinavian Studies [HTML] [Digital]

Tara Chace (Author)

Product Details

• Format: HTML
• Printable: Yes
• Mac OS Compatible: Yes
• Windows Compatible: Yes
• Handheld Compatible: Yes
• File Size: 52 KB
• Digital: 28 pages
• Publisher: Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study (August 1, 2005)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Required Free Software: Any web browser

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5.0 out of 5 stars Magical Realism Meets Postmodernism, April 29, 2008

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East of the Sun, West of the Moon - See all my reviews

This review is from: Disintegrating bodies: postmodern narrative in Mariaana Jantti's Amorfiaana.(Critical Essay): An article from: Scandinavian Studies (Digital)

Chace relies on Wendy Faris's remarkably constructive "Scheherazade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction" (from Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community) to show how Jäntti's novel meets all five of the primary characteristics of magical realism: an irreducible element of magic, detailed descriptions of a realistic world, contradictory understandings of events, the near merging of two worlds or realms, and a questions of received ideas of time, space, and identity. Jäntti's novel is not exactly what I picture when I think about the kinder, gentler magical realism I'm familiar with from stories like Like Water for Chocolate. Instead it's a gritty, often gross, romp through a posthuman landscape. Chace analyzes Jäntti's use of narratological techniques to show how amorphous the narrative is in the text. The article contains lots of quotes from the text to support her claims and is remarkably easy to understand and follow for an academic article. Great work! Now if only the novel were available in English translation!