Magic and Memory: An Assessment of Development Between Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits

Abstract

 Exploring the theme of magic and memory in Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits, this article asks how magic effects memory in the two novels. Drawing on theories regarding memory, magical realism, and feminism, this article argues that the fantastic evolves in relation to memory across these texts since One Hundred Years of Solitude uses preternatural phenomena to obscure and erode memory, whereas The House of the Spirits uses magic to preserve it. The theme of magic and memory present during the first Buendía and Trueba family generations, historical traumas, and endings respectively show not only how the impact of the fantastic on memory changes but also how this relationship becomes increasingly feminine over time, which illustrates how The House of the Spirits develops this theme from One Hundred Years of Solitude.