B Faris write: “Magical realism often facilitates the fusion, or coexistence, of possible worlds, spaces, systems that would be irreconcilable in other modes of fiction” (Lois Parkinson Zamora 5), the basic tenet of this technique involves assimilation of time differences, ambiguous boundaries between reality and dreams, and magical appearances of strange characters and events, which are abundantly present in Kafka on the Shore. Some other perspectives on this style rather focus on the readers and their surroundings.

In a text portraying magic realism: time is not linear, causality is subjective and the magical and the ordinary are one and the same. Matthew Strecher defines magic realism as ‘what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe.Īs Rogers proposes, there are three main elements (or effects) characterized in magical realism which conveys the different worldview and those effects relate to the ways in which this world-view is different from the ‘objective’ view. To define the concept, magic realism is a piece of literature or an art form characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion or mythical element into seemingly realistic fiction. Magic realism, despite being heavily used in the contemporary international literature, was believed to have its roots in Latin America which was falsified through one of the basic tenets and asserted that it was rather universal in scope.

Scholarly articles and collections such as Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community (1995) and Magic realism: Social Context and Discourse (1995) successfully created groundwork for forth coming generation by establishing an extensive reference. A lot of contemporary scholars refused to use the term primarily because it was not well defined. The term “magical realism” has been tossed around rather freely in recent times, especially since the publication of One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967). The paper further explores the realms of identity formation, with respect to aforementioned two major protagonists and describes what turn of events ultimately led them to rediscover their identity before coming back to the real world they initially left behind. This paper dissects the elements of magical realism and Lacanian surrealism employed in the text, in connection with the core theories of identity crisis and oedipal complex in the context of consumer society. But at present, it is intermingled with the hustle and bustle of contemporary urban life imposing their own dimensions of identity loss. This project explores the Murakam-ish style of magic realism which is characterized by the amalgamation of time boundaries and dreams versus reality, within the context of Kafka’s and Nakata’s search for individual identity amidst the consumerist crowd which is characterized by the imprints of rich folklore and culture.

Kafka and the shore