A Comparative Study on Magic Realism in Beloved and Big Breasts & Wide Hips

Originating in Latin America in the 1950s, magic realism has become a literary trend because of its artistic and aesthetic values. World-renowned writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison, and Mo Yan have published a series of literary masterpieces embedded with magical realistic elements, which draw the attention of many literary critics. This thesis uses text analysis and comparative study as research methods and examines the magical realistic elements in Mo Yan and Toni Morrison’s representative works Beloved and Big Breasts & Wide Hips. The discussion focuses on similarities and differences from the perspective of magic and reality, magic narrative techniques, magic-realistic symbols, as well as mythological archetypes and sacred scripture in those two novels. Based on this, I find that hallucinatory realism is a better term in further magical realism studies because it shows magic realism’s acceptance and transmission in China.