This work presents: 1) Definitions and locations: magical realism between modern and postmodern fiction. 2) "From a far source within": magical realism as defocalized narrative defocalization. 3) Encoding the ineffable: a textual poetics for magical realism. 4) "Along the knife-edge of change": magical realism and the post-colonial dynamics of alterity. 5) "Women and women and women": a feminine element in magical realism?