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Yuval-Davis, Nira, and Floya Anthias. Introduction. Woman-Nation-State. Ed. Nira Yuval-Davis & Floya

Anthias. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1989. Print.

According to Luis Leal, in magical realism the writer confronts reality and tries to

untangle it, to discover what is mysterious in things, in life, in human acts (121).

In this particular novel, however, magical realism exerts its force in expressing

ambivalence about the validity of nation formation.

In Imagined Communities, Anderson potentially recognizes the magical quality that

dwells in the modern nation. In explaining effects of nationalism on the human

consciousness, he writes: It is the magic of nationalism to turn chance into destiny

(12). It seems appropriate, therefore, that Anderson later studies Mario Vargas Llosas

magical realist novelEl Habladorin which he finds the only way in our time that the

national novel, the narrative of the nation, can properly be written, and rewritten, and

rewritten (Spectre 359).

1.The novel was awarded the Booker of the Booker in 1993 and the Best of the Booker

in 2008.

2. For example, Nira Yural-Davis argues: A central theme in this process of cultural

decolonization has been the redefinition and reconstruction of sexuality and gender

relations Because the position of women has been so central to the colonial gaze in

defining indigenous cultures, it is there that symbolic declarations of cultural changehave taken place (60). For various positions of women in nationalism, see Yural-Davis

and Anthias 8-10 and Sluga.

3. According to Nairn, all nationalism is both healthy and morbid. Both progress and

regress are inscribed in its generic code from the start (347 -348). For details, see Nairn

329-363.

4. Anne McClintock, who declares that All nationalisms are gendered (352),

expounds the association of the nations temporal characteristic with the division of

gender: What is less often noticed, however, is that the temporal anomaly within

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nationalismveering between nostalgia for the past and the impatient progressive

sloughing off of the pastis typically resolved by figuring the contradiction oftime as

a natural division ofgender (358-359). See also Chatterjee 116-157 and Cusack.

5. Saleems telepathic ability is another element that implies omniscience. As Matt

Kimmich rightly indicates, his telepathic gift is reminiscent of the storytellers power

to see into the minds of his characters (33). As such, it potentially assures a superior

viewpoint over characters in the novel. For an exploration of telepathy effect in

narrative fiction, see Royle 256-276.

6. Anthony D. Smith emphasizes the importance of memory in forging collective

identities. According to Smith, memory, together with myth, symbol, and value,

constitutes the ground for the emergence of the modern nations. Without symbolic

functions of these elements, no modern national identities are possible. For extensive

discussions, see Smith.

7. For Edward Saids insightful scheme of a transition from filiation to affiliation to

which I owe intuition here, see Said 19.

8. For a detailed discussion on how official memorialization of the national dead

deprives each death of individuality and enhances nationalism, see Andeson Spectre

46-57.

9. See Zamora and Faris 5-6.

10. See Slemon 408.

11. See Kluwick 169.