English SL IB Coursework; Angel Versetti, Brockenhurst College

To what extent is magical realism successful in entertaining the readers, whilst

maintaining the balance between historical accuracy and superstitious mysticism?

Comparative analysis of “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” and “Perfume”

Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Patrick Süskind are two acclaimed novelists, who wrote “Chronicle of a
Death Foretold” and “Perfume” respectively. Although the settings of these two novels differ as the authors‟
own backgrounds – geographically, historically and culturally – they share a unifying feature – their genre,
magical realism, which creates a “highly-detailed, realistic setting [that] is invaded by something „too strange
to believe‟”.1 Magical realism is frequently perceived to be “clearly designed for the entertainment of
readers”.2 This essay will attempt to explore the extent, to which mystical aspects “invade” the two historical
novels and thus affect their accuracy; and to analyse the entertaining features of these texts.

Magical realism introduces additional planes of reality.3 In Marquez‟s “Chronicle…” the mysticism,
superstitions and customs of the whole community comprise the alternative reality. In contrast, the second
plane of reality of Süskind‟s “Perfume” is only constituted by Grenouille, the protagonist of the story, on
whom the magical aspects are concentrated, which makes him God-like – he is able to perceive what other
humans cannot. He only develops in the reality of odours, “the self-made empire of his soul”4, being a
sociopath in the real world. Everything unexplained or supernatural that happens throughout the story links
back to his ominous personality and extraordinary ability to enter the realm of scent. The differences in the
authors‟ approaches to magical realism result in differing techniques they employ to preserve the historical
accuracy of the narratives.

“Chronicle…” is perhaps less obviously a historical novel, as the events described are of neither
global nor national significance. Yet their impact on the small community was so tremendous that “for years
[they] couldn‟t talk about anything else.”5 This gives them historical, if not legendary, significance on the
local scale. Set in a small remote Colombian community, the novella follows an investigation by the narrator,
a journalist, of the circumstances around the murder of Santiago Nasar, his friend. The non-chronological
sequence of actions defines the progression of the story. Whereas the narration begins in the 1950s, the author
soon discloses that those events are viewed in retrospect twenty-seven years later, and the narrator‟s
viewpoint is juxtaposed with those of other witnesses. There are multiple flashbacks and fast-forwards

1
Matthew C. Stretcher, “Magical Realism and the Search for Identity in the Fiction of Murakami Haruki”, Journal of
Japanese Studies, Volume 25, Number 2 (Summer 1999), p. 267.
2
Wendy Faris, "Scheherezade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction", MR, 2004, p. 163
3
Maggie Bowers, “Magic(al) Realism”, New York, Routledge, 2004, pp.24-25
4
Patrick Süskind, “Perfume” (translated by John E. Woods), Penguin eBook, 2008, p. 122
5
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” (translated by Gregory Rabassa), Penguin eBook, 2007, p.97
 English SL IB Coursework; Angel Versetti, Brockenhurst College

introducing more background information about the characters and relating their destinies after the murder,
but they are all encircled by the day of Santiago‟s death. Non-linear timeline and switching first- and third-
person narratives immediately distance this work from a journalistic report due to lack of consistency. The
reader is presented with a puzzle, which they should piece together to see the full picture, so perhaps the style
reflects how the narrator‟s own investigation proceeded.

Contrariwise, “Perfume” has linear chronology, an easy-to-follow structure and a descriptive style of
narrative, which is typical of classic historical novels, such as Alexandre Dumas‟ “The Three Musketeers”.
Set in the XVIII-century France, the story is separated from the author‟s lifetime by more than 200 years, so
we immediately expect less precision and accuracy of the text. Contrary to expectations, Süskind is precise as
ever: “Here... on the most putrid spot in the whole kingdom, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was born on July 17,
1738.”6 However, the legitimacy of this precision is questionable. How can the date of birth of another
bastard, born by a low-life fish-saleswoman, be known? There is neither any documentary evidence nor any
witnesses to testify to the events in “Perfume”. Besides, Marquez clearly shows that even availability of
testimonies does not necessarily shed light upon the situation and may even perplex the reader yet further.

In “Chronicle…” the witnesses‟ description of the weather changes from “a beautiful day” with a
“radiant morning”7 into a rainy and foul one, as if they were adjusting their memories to the fact that the
murder took place that day. Here the narrator releases a horde of literary devices to form one compound
complex sentence:8 pathetic fallacy – to describe the rainy weather as “funereal”; epithets – “low sky” and
“still waters”; and a juxtaposition of metaphors “thick smell … and thin drizzle” – which gives the text a
somewhat exciting mood and creates vivid imagery. Seeming importance of omens and foreshadowing is
intriguing, but surreal. With the authorial reticence – refusal to comment on the peculiar and mystical features
of the testimonies, this “report” leaves the reader more puzzled, and the mystery remains unsolved: why did
Angela Vicario name Santiago her perpetrator? Or was he the perpetrator after all? With the main questions
left unanswered, the mysterious story seems unlikely to suit a report in press.

Nevertheless, some elements do resemble the sensationalism of the tabloid press: the narrator grabs
readers‟ interest from the first sentence – “On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at
five-thirty in the morning …”9 Exactness of the description of the minutest, seemingly irrelevant, details is
also striking: the narrator meticulously lists all Santiago‟s weapons – “Malincher-Schonauer 30.06 rifle,

6
Patrick Süskind, “Perfume” (translated by John E. Woods), Penguin eBook, 2008, p.6
7
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” (translated by Gregory Rabassa), Penguin eBook, 2007, p.2
8
“But most agreed that the weather was funereal, with a cloudy, low sky and the thick smell of still waters, and that at
the moment of the misfortune a thin drizzle was falling like the one Santiago Nasar had seen in his dream grove.”,
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” (translated by Gregory Rabassa), Penguin eBook, 2007, pp.2-3
9
Ibid, p.1
 English SL IB Coursework; Angel Versetti, Brockenhurst College

Holland-Magnum 300, Hornet .22 …”10 – and elaborates on the magistrates‟ document – “On folio 416, in
his own handwriting… with the druggist ink, he wrote…”11 Even though this gives the whole story more
credibility and historical accuracy, as it is apparently supported by documentary evidence in “the Palace of
Justice in Riohacha”,12 the sole source of information about the hours preceding the murder – the ultimate
area of investigation – are the witnesses‟ accounts: ambiguous, contradictory and filled with premonitions.

In contrast to the seemingly well-documented events of “Chronicle…”, all potential evidence of

Süskind‟s story mysteriously disappears: for instance, the collapse of Baldini‟s house, after which “nothing
was found: not the bodies, not the safe, not the little books with their six hundred formulas.”13 In the very
introduction, Süskind gives readers an excuse for the lack of evidence of Grenouille‟s existence: "His gifts…
were restricted to a domain that leaves no traces in history”14 – and at the end informs the readers that
Grenouille “had disappeared utterly from Earth.”15 With all characters who knew Grenouille dead, his
documents non-existent and finally himself having been cannibalised, there is no plausible evidence of
Grenouille‟s deeds and therefore they are fictional. The protagonist of the story, the only source of magic
realism, is unreal and serves as the personification of the corrupt French society of the XVIII century, whilst
the extended metaphor of the omnipresent Paris stench surrounding him symbolises the foul decadence of the
contemporary bourgeoisie. Indeed, the very end of Grenouille resembles the historical fate of the French
monarchy, when the Great Revolution of 1783 shook the foundations of feudalism and erased the long-
standing hierarchy and inequality of the social classes. Ironically, through the journey of an apparently
fictitious and unbelievable character, we take a history lesson about the XVIII-century France and, as Süskind
is a qualified historian, we may trust the realism and accuracy of its depiction in “Perfume”.

“Chronicle…”, on the other hand, appears too ridiculous to be taken seriously. The very selection of
the title “Chronicle” seems ironical, when the text has non-linear chronology, incredible description and
ambiguous accounts. Additionally, it possesses another feature of a tabloid article – the range of topics: sex,
gossip, revelry, mystery and violence. To focus on the last, the author‟s thoroughness in describing
Santiago‟s postmortem and an almost laughable, sickening manner, in which it is done by a half-educated
priest, appears to be tailored specifically for the readers: disgusted, or entertained, they will not be unaffected
by the “abdominal cavity with large clots of blood”16 and the priest, who “pulled out the sliced-up intestines
by the roots… didn‟t know what to do with them… gave them an angry blessing and threw them into the

10
Ibid, p.3
11
Ibid, p. 101
12
Ibid, p. 99
13
Patrick Süskind, “Perfume” (translated by John E. Woods), Penguin eBook, 2008, p.105
14
Ibid, p.5
15
Ibid, p.226
16
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”(translated by Gregory Rabassa), Penguin eBook, 2007, p.75
 English SL IB Coursework; Angel Versetti, Brockenhurst College

garbage pail.”17 The whole report is accompanied by ample sensational diction and its seeming seriousness is
further saturated by absurd anecdotal details until the very end, when yet another incredible description – of
Santiago‟s violent death – is presented, seasoned by a variety of adjectives and adverbs to give savour to
every single “dazzling”18 blow of the Vicario‟s brothers, to satisfy the readers‟ curiosity, or blood-thirst.

Santiago, similarly to Grenouille, serves as a symbol of the historical setting: his brutal death is an
emblem of the bloody period of “La Violencia” of the 1950s in Columbian history, when social unrest and
pointless bloodshed were commonplace. Many people died like Santiago Nasar: violently and not knowing
the crime they were being punished for. “Chronicle…” could thus justly be deemed a political allegory.

Magical realism turns this account of murder, which is heavily based on a real murder case that took
place in Colombia, into a “mockumentary”. Marquez, who himself grew up in a similar background in
Colombia and was a journalist during the violent 1950s, employs his expertise in the area masterfully: the
outward seriousness of the narrator‟s approach to the case, as well as reference to records and availability of
historical traces – make the report seem realistic and prompt the reader to assume the historical accuracy to be
maintained; yet elements of magical realism – ambiguity and mysteries – along with a helping of satire,
“wash out” the reality, making “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” an amusing story, rather than a valid
historical record.

Magical realism thus serves a means to convey the atmosphere of a certain society in a particular
historical setting. Whereas the characters and mysterious events described are often inexplicable and
incredible, they bear symbolical meanings, which, if interpreted correctly, will sufficiently relate the
historical context, social setting and popular superstitions of the community, yet avoiding the dry
monotonous narrative style of the traditional annals of history. In this respect, magical realism forms an
unlikely harmony between a reliable historical account and enigmatic beliefs in superstitions and
otherworldly realms, which, considering the enduring popularity of both these novels, can justly be
considered highly successful in entertaining the readers.

(1649 words)

17
Ibid, pp.75-76
18
Ibid, p.153
 English SL IB Coursework; Angel Versetti, Brockenhurst College

Bibliography:

1) Maggie Bowers, “Magic(al) Realism”, New York, Routledge, 2004

2) Wendy Faris, "Scheherezade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern

Fiction", MR, 2004

3) Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” (translated by Gregory

Rabassa), Penguin eBook, 2007

4) Matthew C. Stretcher, “Magical Realism and the Search for Identity in the Fiction of
Murakami Haruki”, Journal of Japanese Studies, Volume 25, Number 2 (Summer 1999)

5) Patrick Süskind, “Perfume” (translated by John E. Woods), Penguin eBook, 2008