MERGING THE TWO REALMS: A MAGICAL REALIST ANALYSIS OF KLUNE’S UNDER THE WHISPERING DOOR

Abstract

The study examines the manifestation of magical realism in Klune's Under the Whispering Door (2021) through the lens of Wendy B. Faris's elements of magical realism from her book Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community (1995). By applying textual analysis, the article highlights the irreducible elements, such as supernatural objects and ordinary characters endowed with ability to see and communicate with ghosts, two contradictory understanding of nature as the mention of conflicting or competing interpretations disrupt conventional logic and the third element of closeness and near merging of two realms which shows the coexistence of two realms (life and death). The research not only enhances the understanding of magical realism in the present context but also underscores the significance of magical realism beyond traditional literary genres. The research eventually addresses the objectives of the study by analyzing specific lines of the novel within the context of postmodernism and the findings revealed how Klune seamlessly used magical realism to dissipate the boundaries between the real and ethereal and gave a profound study on the existence of unordinary and afterlife.