Midnight At The Blackbird Cafe

Midnight at the Blackbird Café is a contemporary novel that embraces several genres, including magical realism and Southern Gothic, which influence the progression of the novel’s plot.

Magical realism is a form of literary fantasy that builds realistic settings and characters but then layers them with the fantastical. Key features of magical realism include magical elements that act in support of the setting woven into the realism. The genre’s earliest foundations come from the art world of Germany in 1925. The term magical realism was coined by art critic Franz Roh. It later appeared in the fairy tales and short stories of 19th-century Romantic writers. Some literary historians posit magical realism’s literary roots are based in Latin American writing. The surrealism of German artists influenced Latinx writers who traveled throughout Europe. The 1927 Spanish translation of Franz Roh’s book on magical realism predicated a burst of Latinx short stories and novels written in the magical realism genre. Magical realism hit its peak between 1940 and 1950 in Argentina with novels such as Alejo Carpentier’s The Kingdom of This World. This movement would go on to inspire one of the most iconic novels featuring magical realism, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 1969 novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude.

The characteristics of magical realism are varied. Commonly, magical realism includes real-world settings that contain magical elements that the author does not confirm or deny, a narrative technique known as authorial reticence. The quality of plenitude, or an abundance of the fantastical, strange, and extraordinary in waves or layers, is unique in magical realism. The genre also includes metafiction, enhanced awareness of mystery, political critique, and hybridity, which is the use of multiple planes of reality. Midnight at the Blackbird Café includes many of these characteristics. The novel is set in the small town of Wicklow, Alabama, a fictional, but realistic setting in the heart of the American South. One of the novel’s subplots is the appearance of blackbirds in a pair of mulberry trees behind the Blackbird Café. Some people in the area believe these birds are messengers for deceased loved ones of visitors to the café. In addition, the narrative implies that several characters take animal forms. For example, Webber hints that Bow Barthelemy, the Blackbird Café’s cook, can turn into a gray cat and that Jena Barthelemy, the Blackbird Café’s waitress, can take the form of a bird. These elements are fantastical realism, and the narrator’s lack of an explanation and treatment of them as though they are a normal part of this particular setting is authorial reticence.

Southern Gothic is a genre that is heavily influenced by the American South. Southern Gothic first appeared in the 19th-century Antebellum period with stories of the grotesque, such as the writings of Henry Clay Lewis and the de-idealized themes in the writing of Mark Twain. The genre gained momentum in the 20th century when it became a form of social critique, often featuring elements of the breakdown of Southern culture and the rise of racism, violence, and religious extremism in the aftermath of the Civil War. These elements can be seen in the work of William Faulkner and Erskine Caldwell. This genre was not widely respected at that time and was often criticized for aimless violence.

The characteristics of Southern Gothic include settings in the American South that featured derelict or decaying homes and towns. Southern Gothic concentrates on the characteristics of the American South, such as racism, violence, and bias against outsiders. There is often a connection between reality and the supernatural as well. Many of these stories include villains who disguise themselves as innocents or victims. The themes of Southern Gothic stories are often an attempt to expose the truth of the Antebellum South.

Midnight at the Blackbird Café includes several elements of the Southern Gothic genre. It is set in Wicklow, Alabama, a small town that faces economic struggles at the beginning of the novel. Many of the downtown businesses closed due to stagnant tourism and an aging population. The characters offer a rich view of Southern customs, such as the inherent use of the term “ma’am,” which upsets Anna Kate in the beginning. She acclimates and uses the term herself toward the end of the story. Seelie bases her grudge against Eden Callow on her distrust of outsiders. In this case, the outsider is not someone from a distant location, but someone who lacks the money and influence the Linden family enjoys

The genres of magical realism and Southern Gothic complement each other. In this novel, magical realism alleviates some of the conflicts created by the darker Southern Gothic elements.