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@article{190693,
        author = {Anushka Rajkumar salve and Dr. Avneet Kaur},
        title = {Myth and Reality: A Comparative Analysis of Magical Realism in Contemporary Fiction},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {8},
        pages = {4089-4092},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=190693},
        abstract = {This research paper examines the relationship between Myth and Reality in Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories through the lens of magical realism. Magical realism is a narrative mode in which magical elements appear naturally within a realistic framework and are accepted as normal by the characters. Rushdie's novel, through written for children, engages deeply with themes of censorship, imagination and the power of storytelling. Written in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding the Satanic Verses, the novel uses mythic symbolism and magical realism to defend freedom of expression and the necessity of stories in human life. This paper analyses how mythic functions as a form of reality rather than escapist fantasy, focusing on the symbolic significance of the sea of stories, the figure of khattam-shud, and the role of storytelling as resistance. Drawing on theories of magical realism by Wendy B. Faris and Lois Parkinson Zamora, the paper argues that Haroun and the Sea of Stories transforms myth into a living, political and emotional reality.},
        keywords = {Magical Realism, Myth and Reality, Storytelling, Salman Rushdie, Censorship, Children’s literature, Allegory},
        month = {January},
        }