Hypertext Magazine asked Bradley Sides, author of Those Fantastic Lives, “Young protagonists certainly are nothing new in adult literature, but contemporary magical realism in particular, including your own stories in Those Fantastic Lives, doesn’t shy away from giving space to young voices. Why?”
By Bradley Sides
First of all, I agree. When I think of some of the most successful writers of contemporary magical realism—Aimee Bender, Kelly Link, Matt Bell, and Karen Russell—I can point to specific stories from each of them that has a young protagonist. In Link’s case, her collection Pretty Monsters specifically takes a look at the young adult, with the collection being about (and maybe even for) this age group.
One reason I think magical realism oftentimes captures this younger voice is because imagination is such a key part of our younger selves. Unlike as adults, we are allowed to be imaginative as children—and as teens. And maybe even more than allowed. For many of us, we are encouraged as young people to chase the fantastical, to dive inside it, to maybe become a part of it, in ways. For adults to read about children encountering ghosts, monsters, or whatever else, it takes us back to our younger selves and to the struggles we encountered. We, as adults now reading these stories, see the world differently, perhaps. We see not just the magic, but also the hidden things we could have never known or understood. The internal. The really real.
In my own stories, I also include young characters frequently because doing so can allow for a more diverse readership. After all, to be young is a universal experience. Children are living that part of their lives now—as are teens. Younger adults can still remember it. Older adults can too if they so desire. I think there’s something naturally accessible about the young fantastical journey. We all know what the magic of childhood is like, and reading about that part of our lives in such weird, unusual ways is—well—magical.
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Bradley Sides‘ writing appears at Chapter 16, Chicago Review of Books, Electric Literature, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Millions, The Rumpus, and Southern Review of Books. He holds an MA from the University of North Alabama and is an MFA candidate at Queens University of Charlotte. He lives in Florence, Alabama, with his wife, and he can be found on most days teaching creative writing and English in southern Tennessee. Those Fantastic Lives is his debut.
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