that he did not need to search for magic in Europe, because Latin America provided all the culture and magic he could have hoped for. His version of magical realism was called "lo real maravilloso," or "the real marvelous." This concept was undoubtedly a result of his contact with surrealism, but it also implied a sense of wonder produced by magic or unusual and unexpected phenomena. Carpentier is thought to be the founder of the magical realism that we talk about today. The term magical realism later became popular again in the 1940's to 1970's in Latin America. When Latin American authors like the Colombia!
             n Gabriel Garciia Maarquez, the Brazilian Jorge Amado, and the Argentines Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cartazar began to use magical realism in their stories, many other authors caught on to this trend of writing because it had such an intriguing way to capture audiences. Next, let us take a look at Isabel Allende's life and how her incorporation of magical realism stemmed from many true events that happened to her or her family.
             Isabel Allende begins every novel on January 8. She does this because this is the day, in 1981, that she received a phone call that her grandfather was dying. She began a letter for him on this day that later became the basis for the novel The House of the Spirits, and considered it a lucky date. She grew up in a very close family, who were involved heavily in politics. She displays many political revolts in her characters and she once said, "I usually look for a person who can serve as a model" when developing characters. Allende claims that her grandmother was a clairvoyant. This may be where she retained many of the character aspects of Clara. Clara, one of the main characters in the novel, serves the role as the person with the most mental "clarity," hence her name. Most of the instances of magical realism revolve around Clara....