17/01/2023

What is Storytelling?

When telling a story, there are dozens of ways to make the letters sound amazing by banging words together. Just like we hear the sounds of the letters pouring from the tip of the pen onto the paper.

I am used to waking up to gray, wet weather in London almost every season. I wake up to foggy mornings in a city that greets you with its gray wings extended to infinity. Regardless of the season, rain clouds are always behind your window. Of course, sorrowful clouds do not always bring gloom and sorrow. It may make inspired writers by raindrops zigzagging on the glass, perhaps the clatter of falling onto the roof.

As a fantasy author, it was inconceivable that I would not be interested in fairy tales. Fairy tales have been in my mind for as long as I've known myself. They grew up with me, they developed with me, and we learned and gained experience together.

My childhood and youth years were always spent with stories. My imaginary playmates grew up after a while and drew their own paths, just like me.  Of course, during this long and pleasant my childhood, I also gained my creative self without realizing it. Even in those big heavy classics that I read that were not for my age, I had an attitude of finding fantastic elements and enjoying the surreal, supernatural parts of the story more. This attitude has continued to increase over the years. So much so that your outlook on life has settled down to your way of perceiving life.

We human beings often take refuge in scientific foundations in order to understand the inner side of events, and we want to be sure. I respect people's choices, but I prefer to see the fantastic side of things. Instead of being convinced and appeased by scientific explanations, I immerse myself in the splendor of the extraordinary with a roaring excitement as if my heart is going to burst out of my chest. Even though some describe it as escaping from realism, a delusional lifestyle, and handling the events in a rigid framework, they actually want to shout out the truth of this by convulsing the souls they have forcibly imprisoned in dark cages.

We are, as children of ancient cultures, listened to and told tales under a plane tree in the cold winter nights, sometimes in the warm breezy spring months, and sometimes in the peaceful arms of the warm breezes. Telling and listening have been the other name of conversation and unity for centuries. Stories and fairy tales connect us to each other, appear as guides in difficult times and also provide information about human social awareness. They become companions so that we can establish new universes and understand the present.

Since existence, human beings have always followed the mystery and unexplained mystical events with curiosity. The stories also point to the mysterious adventure of humanity in creation. The universe, human beings, life, planets, and all living things are in the middle of our lives as solid as fantastic fictional characters and the backgrounds that feed our story. From that adventure to this drama, stories are like breathing life forms without losing their fluidity from past comedy to future sci-fi. They never lose their freshness.

Without stories, there is no way to understand people's world. Stories are what make us human. We are all beings programmed to enjoy stories. Our victories, our defeats, our heroism-hostilities, our lifestyles, everything is hidden in the stories we enjoy telling.

So we are all storytellers. In our daily life routine, at work, and in our social environment, we always find ourselves talking about something. Sometimes it starts at dinner, sometimes it starts with a phone call that lasts for minutes. We always tell something. It is also an art of influencing and effective speaking.

One of humanity's most ancient skills is storytelling. Today, fairy tales and stories are used effectively in every social environment, especially in educational environments. It is common in commercial life that those who discover the power of the story use this power to persuade people. The story increases the engagement of brands by 84%, which is a splendid percentage. At the point we call emotional branding, stories come into play and provide needs-oriented transformation and an advantage in customer relations. There is no effective speech that is boring and difficult to understand when there is a story in it. Stories are the best way to strengthen the narration, to be instructive, and not to bore the audience.

If we turn to what is storytelling, actually an art form. The Art of Storytelling. After all, it's an art. In fact, it is an art that we all do almost every day. When we blend the words that come out of our mouths with our breath by hitting each other, we can visualize whatever we are talking about. We all have extraordinary abilities. And storytelling is an art based on this ability.

If you ask me, fantasy literature is the most important genre of literature. One of the most obvious benefits of fantasy is that it allows readers to experiment with different ways of seeing the world. Fantasy stories heal monotony in your mind, dullness in perception, and diminished awareness. You get away from the gloomy atmosphere of the world and discover new dimensions. It saves you from the disloyalty of people, from the feeling of emptiness that a day spent running around makes you feel, or from the collapse of your immune system when you are sad.

I have been a columnist for Eurovision for years. Whatever I write, I never thought of presenting it to my reader without sprinkling fantastic elements, without telling the subject, and without adding mythology dust. Everyone needs some relief when the world seems dark and hazy enough even under the summer sun while people are already trying to breathe in an aura of gray. Those who discovered the power of stories have never needed another method.

In short, stories and fairy tales are for people of all ages. Stories heal. Books are one of the best medicines to mend the fractures in our souls. So stay with love and books in every moment of your life.

16/01/2023

Mr. Harrigan’s Phone

“When you grow up in a small town and are suddenly exposed to an alien world, your universe expands. You see strange and different faces. Some of them are friendly, but others, sometimes seem drawn to you in a dark way.”

Have you ever read Stephen King’s novella, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone? Did you know the movie dropped on Netflix in October? New adaptations always excite me. Mr. Harrigan’s phone seems good enough though—especially with Jaeden Martell and Donald Sutherland leading the way. Call me crazy, but a lot of people say, "Stephen King's books are my version of comfort field. When I need a distraction from the drama of daily life, I know I can sink into a King book and get carried away from everything." Not me.

To be honest, I'm not a huge literary horror fan (Guillermo is the only director and writer who made me watch this genre). So, I'm not a fan of Stephen King. I tried to read books of his in the past and just couldn't get into them. I wanted to but it didn't happen. Not yet. Who knows. Anyway, maybe I will be, thanks to the story I watched last month. Wouldn't call it horror but it's a King story so it counts. A friend of mine who lives in NY asked me what my thoughts are about this novella and its movie. I smiled and said that I'm thinking of writing a review about them soon.

I haven't read any short Stephen King for a long time, so I was delighted when Jack waved his hardback copy down the Skype screen from London and said, I've got the new Stephen King, and I'll bring it with me. As soon as I watched the movie, I immediately started the book. I will write about a few details without giving spoilers. And that's my review of it.

We are in Stephen King's Maine. The year is 2002 or so. And 11-year-old Craig has been randomly offered the job of reading classic novels to a reclusive and never-married billionaire who lives alone in a mansion and who no one seems to like much. Everybody, including Craig's widowed father, thinks this offer is completely fine, and so Craig takes on his $5-an-hour side hustle without even a visit to the house from dad to inquire what Mr. Harrigan's intentions might be. But, since this is King's world, it won't be Mr. Harrigan who Craig needs to worry about. It'll be something else.

A few years go by, and Craig’s grades are OK, at least one teacher has taken a shine to him, and he gets on fine with his dad. And three times a week, he still walks up to Mr. Harrigan's mansion to spend an hour reading to the reclusive rich lister. Then, in 2007, the first iPhone is launched. All the cool kids at school have one – and Craig, very unexpectedly, acquires one as well. And then another, as a present for Mr Harrigan. And that, somehow, becomes the catalyst for this alleged horror movie to start, very occasionally, actually making us jump.

"Mr. Harrigan's Phone" is a supernatural drama based on a short story by Stephen King. Directed by John Lee Hancock, the film tells the story of Craig, a young boy who reads to a local recluse named Mr. Harrigan three times a week, forming a kind of friendship that continues after the rich old man passes away. It's a tale of lonely people trying to connect and a parable about the insidious way cell phones and the internet, in general, control our lives. The story takes a healthy rip at technology and those who rely on it.

The film has an unpredictable and dramatic tonal shift, starting as a story about a friendship that transcends age, income, and social status and grows more volatile and sinister. It’s when a series of unexplained events begin to occur that the story turns dark, as these incidents may not just be a string of eerie coincidences.

The script was based on a short story and feels like it, mostly because the film seems too vague. It’s open-ended and offers no resolution, which is frustrating for a viewer. But there’s enough about “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone,” including two great lead performances from Martell and Sutherland, to make it a compelling King adaptation.

Mr. Harrigan's Phone' was the first, comparatively short tale and my favorite in the book.

Along with being a supernatural tale and a story of a teenager learning about letting things go, “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” also turns out to be a clear, if not stern, warning against our tremendous dependence on smartphones that we have in modern times. However, none of the three elements that the film tries to focus on work too well, though, as none of it seems anything beyond a shallow passage of thoughts. The initial moments of supernatural suspense might make “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” an interesting Halloween-month watch for some, but overall, there is no harm in missing this film.

All in all, If It Bleeds isn’t a total waste, but it is merely a shadow of King’s other novella collections. I could say that his fans deserve better, but all I’ll just say is the man definitely deserves a break. He’s been writing non-stop since the early ’70s, and if retirement is in King’s future — well, he’s left us a lot to chow down on. If It Bleeds is not up to snuff, but if you’re okay with that, you’re going to have an entertaining time of things at the very least. At least, as King ages, he hasn’t lost the ability to make you care about his work. Even if it’s not so great.

Magical Realism

“Can a magician kill a man by magic?” Lord Wellington asked Strange. Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. “I suppose a magician might,” he admitted, “but a gentleman never could.” 
                  Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell


A couple of years ago I was at a Skype conference where the keynote speaker made a charade about “magic realism—which we all know is just fantasy written by a Latin American author!” The others laughed and applauded, but I did not. No, I did not laugh. It was more than that.

At the time, I was exploring the healing power of fiction. My editor friend who lives in New York recommended me a few books. So the best idea was to visit the British Library the next day. I did the same. It all began when I first met Sam, my fellow Bibliotherapist, and we found ourselves in reading rooms mostly on Fridays at British Library. We started giving each other books about career worries, the ups, and downs of relationships, fabulism, magical realism, etc.

It was a cool spring morning I was sitting on one of the wicker chairs in my garden reading a book Sam recommended. The lines I read caught my attention:

“Consider Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell a terrific novel about two types of magic: one a rational science bound by rules and algorithms, the other the wild, unpredictable power of Faerie. But even the latter follows rules. There are humans, and there are fairies; there is our world and there is theirs; some items, places, persons, and rituals are magical, and some are not. Now consider One Hundred Years of Solitude. It’s chock-full of magic, no question. Flying carpets, ghosts, insomnia plagues, telekinesis, prophecies, premonitions, alchemy, unexplainable deaths and inescapable smells, blood that flows upwards, landlocked galleons, a woman whose presence drives men mad, a bag of bones that clack constantly together to name, just a few examples. But all this magic is random, chaotic, surreal, of no lasting consequence to any but those who experience it; and all these supernatural events are told in the same casual, matter-of-fact tone used to describe lunches and money problems.”


Magical Realism

 22 Aralık 2022 - 10:30

“Can a magician kill a man by magic?” Lord Wellington asked Strange. Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. “I suppose a magician might,” he admitted, “but a gentleman never could.”  Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

A couple of years ago I was at a Skype conference where the keynote speaker made a charade about “magic realism—which we all know is just fantasy written by a Latin American author!” The others laughed and applauded, but I did not. No, I did not laugh. It was more than that.

At the time, I was exploring the healing power of fiction. My editor friend who lives in New York recommended me a few books. So the best idea was to visit the British Library the next day. I did the same. It all began when I first met Sam, my fellow Bibliotherapist, and we found ourselves in reading rooms mostly on Fridays at British Library. We started giving each other books about career worries, the ups, and downs of relationships, fabulism, magical realism, etc.

It was a cool spring morning I was sitting on one of the wicker chairs in my garden reading a book Sam recommended. The lines I read caught my attention:

“Consider Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell a terrific novel about two types of magic: one a rational science bound by rules and algorithms, the other the wild, unpredictable power of Faerie. But even the latter follows rules. There are humans, and there are fairies; there is our world and there is theirs; some items, places, persons, and rituals are magical, and some are not. Now consider One Hundred Years of Solitude. It’s chock-full of magic, no question. Flying carpets, ghosts, insomnia plagues, telekinesis, prophecies, premonitions, alchemy, unexplainable deaths and inescapable smells, blood that flows upwards, landlocked galleons, a woman whose presence drives men mad, a bag of bones that clack constantly together to name, just a few examples. But all this magic is random, chaotic, surreal, of no lasting consequence to any but those who experience it; and all these supernatural events are told in the same casual, matter-of-fact tone used to describe lunches and money problems.”

It might be easy to read the above paragraph and think “So the magic in magic realism is just a bunch of random, arbitrary weird stuff happening, with no consistency and no examination of the ramifications?” And, well, you wouldn’t entirely be wrong. But if you went on to conclude that this is just bad fantasy—honestly, you couldn’t make a worse mistake.

Italian writer and critic Massimo Bontempelli, who draws attention to the fact that literature has the power to create a new atmosphere by combining the real world and the imaginary world, is considered to be the first person to apply magical realism in literature. Bontempelli thinks that myths and legends should take place in the narrative process through imagination in order to reveal a deeper layer of reality.

According to Angel Flores, magical realism is an amalgamation of reality and fantasy. According to him, the first magical realist work written in the modern period is The Universal History of Vileness by Jorge Luis Borges. Flores, who thinks that magical realism is an authentic expression of Latin America, is of the opinion that the unreal is naturalized in magical realism.

New Wave Fabulism may be really what you write, read or watch if it’s similar to Magical Realism but is not Latin American. It is Literary fiction about the role of the imagination in our lives.

All the literature genres are distinguished by the writer’s imagination as well as achieved the aesthetic brilliance of execution. “Literature is classified according to a variety of systems including vocabulary, culture, tradition, and history".

Literature makes it easier for an individual to know the culture and the life of past generations, as well as allows us to know their preference over time. Literature has the power to reflect the experiences and goes along with the history from the aspect that they are both considered as the gateway to the previous generations. Literature and history are inextricably linked.

“The Truth must dazzle gradually or every man is blind” is a line from a poem by Emily Dickinson, which somehow explains the work of magical realism discussed by the current study. Magical realism is a combination of magic and realism to beautify the truth. Based on the literary works during the last century, the reader can conclude that magical realism is an item of fiction in contemporary literary works; magical realism is a part of literature that is mostly concerned with history.

Magical realism is a sort of fiction and a style of literature that makes a realistic picture of the contemporary world with the addition of magical elements. Magical realism is the magic that refers to life's mystery.

Magical realist works do not attempt to imitate the surrounding truth as the realists' works, but they attempt to capture the mystery behind objects since one of magical realism's purposes is to increase awareness of mystery. Moreover, magical realism is not fantastic literature because it focuses on the actual relationship between humans and their environment rather than on the development of imaginary entities or universes.

Many people mistakenly describe what they like to write, read or watch as Magical Realism, but in fact, that term is specific to Latin American narratives and includes their unique worldview. So, instead, to be more accurate, people use the term New Wave Fabulism if it isn’t Latin American or doesn’t dramatize that particular worldview and stick to the traditions of that genre. New Wave Fabulism also has its own guidelines, of course, but they are more malleable and more fitting to a larger geographical context. The defining idea: the New Wave Fabulist narrative is always about the role of the imagination.

In my opinion, there’s something special about magical realism. Its stories hover between grounded and extraordinary sensations yet steadily manage to leave profound marks on the reader. With everything that’s happening around the world today—horrible, wonderful, and surreal—this is a genre that feels very relevant.

Here are a few magic realist authors and their books that I would recommend to you.

Wishing you all find your own magical realism in the new year!

***

The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes

The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter 

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

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