Bosworth, DavidMcAdams, Timothy Sean2020-04-302020-04-302020-04-302020McAdams_washington_0250O_21169.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/1773/45488Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2020Literary realism as championed by John Gardner makes fidelity to the real a moral and aesthetic imperative. This essay contests the morality and plausibility of “realism.” A theoretical review discusses the narrative construction of identity and world-view. A discussion of Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping and Donald Barthelme’s Snow White suggests that they undermine literary realism in ways that also tend to resist extra-literary dogmas. A section focused largely on Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony argues that magical realism goes further, not only resisting the dominant world-view but modeling a way to alter or replace it. As this is an MFA essay, the final section considers whether strategies discussed are suitable for the author’s own fiction.application/pdfen-USnoneBarthelmeGardnermagical realismrealismRobinsonSilkoCreative writingEnglishThesis