The Corporeality and Magical Reality of Cuban Women in Cristina García’s The Agüero Sisters (1997)

Abstract

The image that every individual holds for his body is a retrospective socially constructed reality. In fiction, however, the body image is to reflect the body shape ideals of society for the consolidation of its perpetual mores in a fictional manner. This fictional image, moreover, is to have an accentuated antinomic representation if blended with elements of magic. The female versions of magical realism, in this sense, try to take advantage of the hyperbole and uncanny in order to transcend their feminine and feminist readings of their reality. This endeavor that is essentially femino-centric, seeks a portrayal of a socially constructed body image and a re-creation of female magic that suggests an alternative feminine corporeality. The present paper aims to deepen a discussion about the magical corporeality of the Cuban women in the work of Cristina García, The Agüero Sisters (1997). Through feminist and socio-psychological readings, this article concludes that García makes best use of the magical elements in the portrayal of the Cuban female corporeal ideals that are essentially unrealistic and earthy. The author, in this sense, tries to take advantage of an original and natural magic for pronouncing a social reality, a racial verity, and a cultural veracity.