Magic Realism

Grant tolerates a little but thinks unlimited magic is cheating, because once anything is possible any contrivance can resolve the plot. It is his main objection to Murakami.

Where it appears 2

• 
  the antidote to madnessEp 2 · with Grant Shipway

  Listen at 1:25:43Read it in the transcript
• 
  don't pretend you aren't confusedEp 1 · with Tyler Dorchester

  The genre Tyler names on reading Murakami's 1Q84.

Connections

Explored through

• Once you open up these possibilities, then anything's possible, and any kind of silly contrivance to help you figure out your ending is possible. I think that's cheating.Grant Shipway · Ep 2 · 1:26:31
• Unlimited magic is cheatingGrant Shipway · Ep 2 · 1:26:31

  Once a story allows anything to happen, any contrivance can rescue the ending, and dramatic tension disappears.

Related

• Haruki Murakami
• Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
• Chekhov's Gun

References

• The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
• Kafka on the Shore
• Life of Pi