The influence of magical realism in the novels of Mohan Raj Madavala

Abstract

A major propensity that could be seen in the field of universal novels during the decades of 1960's and 70's was a mere exploration of alternative remodeling configurations which transgress the remodeling forms of realism. In particular, the objective and psychogenic convolutions of the existing social-political realities that could be comprehended better and a popular form of reconstruction which emerged as an approach of remodeling them in a complex form was magical realism. Magical realism was introduced as a concept by the German Literary critic Frank Rove, and was popularized in world literature particularly through Latin American writers. Western writers developed their creations incorporating the concept of magical realism generating it as an effective intersection between illusion and realism. When investigating into how Sinhala novels were influenced by magical realism, it becomes apparent from interviews with critics that their attention has been drawn to novels compiled by Mohan Raj Madawala who entered the field of writing recently. The impression of most literary critics is that novelists in our country experiment with magical realism in their creations without understanding the exact meaning of the genre. Their view is that they use illusion or magic divorced from realism without any base. However, it becomes clear that this opinion is incorrect while conducting this study on novels namely Magam Soliya, Loveena and Adaraneeya Victoria written by Mohan Raj Madawala. This study examines the features of magical realism in these three novels. In this research, it became evident that certain illusory phenomena subjected to the supposition of Madawala are completely divorced from socio-political realities. It is expected to associate the novels of Mohan Raj Madawala and the other works enabling to identify magical realism as a concept.