magical realm is intruding into the everyday world. This generates step-by-step a
sense of mystery. However, the mystery is rarely formulated explicitly, and never
truly resolved, thus sustaining a “magical” atmosphere impervious to rational
analysis.
A simple example can be found in the novel “Return to Atlantis” by the
Belgian magical realist Hubert Lampo. The novel describes the experiences of a
doctor who visits his patients in a poor, old neighborhood, which is enveloped in a
melancholy atmosphere of things either gone by, or never realized. These visits bring
back some of his childhood experiences, including the fact that his father, whom he
assumed to be dead, actually disappeared without leaving a trace. He moreover
discovers that his father had always been fascinated by the mystery of Atlantis. The
novel ends with the suggestion that his father may have left to seek (and perhaps even
find) that lost continent. While it is easy to imagine a sequel in which the hero
searches for and eventually locates his father, this would have completely destroyed
the “magical” sense of third-order anticipation. In fact, the story can be seen as little
more than the careful building up of an atmosphere of dreamy wistfulness,
characterized by a longing for or anticipation of a mystery, here symbolized by the
missing father’s peculiar obsession with Atlantis. In terms of the monomyth
[Campbell, 1949], a story like this never goes beyond the first stage, the “call to
action”.
It is further worth noting that narratives in this genre tend to have a much
more fatalistic perspective than stories in the more traditional genres of adventure and
mystery. Indeed, for the agent to be in control of its further course of action, it needs
to have a prospect of where to go or what to do, or at least be able to pinpoint the
mystery whose solution is likely to produce that prospect. If the agent cannot even
formulate that mystery, and merely feels that some crucial insight is lacking, then the
natural sentiment is a melancholy resignation or wistful contemplation, in the hope
that the missing answer will reveal itself, independently of the agent’s actions. This
may explain why anticipation of mystery tends to be associated with sadness, and why
the heroes of magical realistic novels tend to undergo their fate rather passively. Still,
these negative feelings remain mild, tempered as they are by the vague expectation of
some miraculous turnaround...
Alternation between Prospect and Mystery
During a more standard adventure, prospect and mystery tend to alternate: the effort
invested in resolving a mystery produces a new prospect; further exploration
eventually runs into the limits of that knowledge (anticipation of mystery); sooner or
later, the agent becomes aware of the unknown that remains hidden behind further
obstacles (new mystery); elucidating that mystery engenders another prospect; and so
on. This continuous alternation between the two perspectives can again be visualized
as a journey meandering through a landscape.
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