Magical and sublime characteristics of a very old man with enormous wings"A very old man with enormous wings" is a short story written by Gabriel Garcia Márquez in 1955 It has both characteristics of magical realism and the modern sublime. Therefore, Magical Realism and the Sublime seem to be related in many ways depending on how a person looks at a story. From all the research I've read, magical realism and the sublime help explain each other's characteristics. This story definitely meets the criteria of magical realism and the sublime due to the many elements described. The very old winged man, the unusual miracles, the spider woman and the crab infestation represent elements of sublime and magical realism. Marquez makes these magical elements seem like the natural thing to happen. Angels, miracles, crabs, spiders and money-making events are very real, but in this story it makes them seem so real and normal, whereas in real life they would be crazy and hard to believe. I found that this story is based on a spiritual subject rather than something that cannot possibly be related to a certain thing or place. Longinus speaks of several authors stating that "the importance of the sublime is clearly that it plumbs the depths of natural and visible reality to evoke an aesthetic and psychological experience of its hidden and invisible dimension of mystery, magic and spirituality" (461). Sublime, having spirituality as a characteristic, and magical realism, having magic as a characteristic, are mixed in the story. The old man with wings is sublime and magical due to his spirituality and the magic he created while living in the city. It's a... media... all opinion based. I know there will be many people who will place the two genres into different categories based on what they see. When given a magical element, not everyone gets the same insight into it. I stand by my point, though; magical realism and the sublime are more similar than different. Works Cited Arensberg, Mary. The American sublime. Ed. Maria Arensberg. Albany; NY: State University of New York Press, 1986. 1-5.Faris, Wendy B. “Magical Realism: Post-Expressionism.” Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community." Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham ; NC: Duke UP, 1995: 163-190. Longinus. Cambridge UP, 1995. Shopenhauer, The World as Philosophy of Art and beauty. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976. 448-468.