POSSIBILITY AND CERTAINTY.

THE RHETORIC OF MAGICAL REALISM

IN SLEEP BY HARUKI MURAKAMI

Evagrina DIRTU[1]

Abstract

This paper is intended to exemplify, in a short story by Haruki Murakami, the unusual type of rhetoric modalizations that magical realism resorts to, in order to achieve its specific equilibrium between two levels and reality or two perspectives upon reality. We are particularly interested in seeing how the markers of certainty and those of suspicion are used in relation to two epistemic categories – the natural and the unnatural –, starting from the premise that magical realism cannot appeal to the canonical approach of the latter, as long as it aims at building a universe in which the logical conflict must dissolve into a re-assessed truth.

Keywords: Magical realism, Haruki Murakami, certainty, possibility, reality

pp 51-60 <<download>>

[1] Evagrina DIRTU holds a Ph. D. in French literature and is an adjunct Assistant Professor at the “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University in Iasi, Romania, as well as a translator. Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .