چکیده (انگلیسی):

This paper argues that magic realism cannot evolve in a setting where there is no bush environment because this is
where oral literature flourishes. The oral literature provides the conditions necessary for magic realism to explore the
relationship between the surreal and the mundane. If the magic realism is set outside this bush environment then the
experience becomes muted. Texts that havea clear dichotomy between the world of human habitation (suchas villages,
towns) and that of the spirits (such as the bush or forest) enable magic realism to evolve into a more profound
experience, that of the dream setting. My argument is that the dream setting needs this dichotomy for it to exist. In
essence, texts that do not use the bush environment as part of their setting fall short in their creative aspect because the
space and time within which characters function are constrained. The use of the oral tradition with its interplay of the
human, animal and spirit worlds creates a platform for the dream setting, something which cannot happen where the
setting limits itself to the world of human habitation. I will compare Bessie Head’s Maru with Ben Okri’s Starbook to
show how the oral tradition in the latter text makes it achieve a level of magic realism that cannot be possible in Head’s
Maru.