Magical Realism

Harvard Extension School

ENGL E-286

Section 1

CRN 17514

View Course Details

This course explores magical realism as a literary mode rooted not in escapist fantasy, but in cultural ways of knowing that emerge in response to historical trauma, political upheaval, personal loss, and the limits of ordinary language. In magical realist texts, the extraordinary does not replace reality—it intensifies it. Ghosts walk into kitchens, the dead speak, time folds, animals prophesy, and miracles occur without narrative surprise. Yet the stakes remain grounded in lived experience: colonization, dictatorship, migration, war, environmental devastation, family rupture, and spiritual crisis.

Credits: 4

Term

Fall Term 2026

Part of Term

Full Term

Format

Live Attendance Web Conference

Credit Status

Graduate, Noncredit, Undergraduate

Section Status

Open

Instructor Info

Collier Brown, PhD

Preceptor in Expository Writing, Harvard University

Meeting Info

W 5:10pm - 7:10pm (8/31 - 12/19)

Participation Option: Online Synchronous

Deadlines

Last day to register:

Notes

This course meets via web conference. Students must attend and participate at the scheduled meeting time. See minimum technology requirements.

Tuition

All Sections of this Course

CRN	Section #	Participation Option(s)	Instructor	Section Status	Meets	Term Dates
17514	1	Online Synchronous	Collier Brown	Open	W 5:10pm - 7:10pm	Aug 30 to Dec 18