Abstract

This article explores a phenomenon of low-level magical realism we call infrastructural-innovation realism. Reversing the formulation identified by Sean McCann and Michael Szalay in their 2005 essay “Do You Believe in Magic? Literary Thinking After the New Left,” in which an earlier generation of left-leaning American writers eschewed engagement with the state in favor of imagining utopian magical communities, these novels rewrite historical events, often catastrophic and violent ones, with the addition of one piece of working magical infrastructure. Here we explore the effects of these magical technological additions in three novels: Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad (2016); Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West (2017); and briefly, César Aira’s Shantytown (2000). Although these effects vary, in these novels, history continues on as violently as ever: together they betray the difficulty in late neoliberalism of even imagining that states will provide working infrastructure, particularly for oppressed and displaced people. At the same time, these novels challenge the idea that imagining utopian communities beyond the state’s orbit constitutes a retreat from politics. Rather, they showcase the difficult, painstaking work of building alternative community in the wake of the state’s many failures and imply the continued necessity of confronting and reimagining the violent state rather than appealing to it.

中文翻译：

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崩溃时代的基础设施创新现实主义

摘要

本文探讨了一种低级的魔术现实主义现象，我们将其称为基础设施创新现实主义。推翻了肖恩·麦肯（Sean McCann）和迈克尔·萨莱（Michael Szalay）在其2005年的论文《你相信魔术吗？“新左派之后的文学思想”，即较早的左倾美国作家为了想像乌托邦的魔术团体而避免与国家交往，这些小说改写了历史事件，通常是灾难性和暴力事件，并增加了一部神奇的基础架构。在这里，我们探讨了三本小说中这些神奇技术的添加所产生的影响：科森·怀特海德的《地下铁路》（2016年）；莫欣·哈米德（Mohsin Hamid）的《西部出口》（Exit West）（2017）简而言之，塞萨尔·艾拉（CésarAira）的棚户区（2000）。尽管这些影响各不相同，但在这些小说中，历史仍然像以往一样猛烈地继续下去：他们共同背叛了新自由主义后期的困难，甚至幻想国家将提供工作基础设施，特别是为被压迫和流离失所的人。同时，这些小说挑战了这样一种观念，即想像超越国家轨道的乌托邦社区构成了对政治的退缩。相反，它们展示了在该州的许多失败之后建立替代社区的艰巨而艰苦的工作，并暗示了继续面对和重新构想暴力国家而不是对其施加吸引力的必要性。