This post will pick up the Widows of Eastwick but a post on Tracks will be coming soon because I am over half way through the book and have a lot of thoughts on it. But for now I'd like to stick with the Widows of Eastwick and explore the book in terms of Magical Realism. It is particularly interesting to me because at this point in their lives, the women have come to regard their foray into witchcraft as a foolish preoccupation of their youth. Maybe that characterization is a little harsh, but they do not believe in the power in the same way they did when they were recent divorcees.
In the first novel, the women attempt to downplay the role their hex played on Jenny Gabriel's fate by questioning the magic which they had stood by previously. They reasoned that Jenny died due to a natural manifestation of terminal cancer. It was purely coincidental it was only after they placed a hex on Jenny that she began to show symptoms of the disease. So it is no surprise the women continued to distance themselves from witchcraft from that point forward. Lexa herself does not feel the same connection to nature she once did and at the start of the novel she disparages the importance she placed on both nature and witchcraft in her youth. Sukie and Jane feel similarly and make comments to that effect at various points at the novel. Yet when the do finally take a trip together it is to return to Eastwick and get back in touch with their "witchy-roots". Still, it is only Lexa who takes it seriously when they decide to try to erect a cone of power for the first time in thirty+ years. The other two dally on their way back from Jane's hospital visit and are not fully invested in the process which Lexa has so painstakingly set up. The magic is reluctant in this novel when it was abundant in the previous one. There are no transformations of tennis balls or love charms at all. Yet when the women do erect the cone of power, the magic is more undeniable than in any other instance. Sukie's former lover's hand begins to regenerate, Joe Marino's Daughter conceives a baby and Jane dies in a violent fashion. Yet there is a medical explanation for Jane's death not to mention her advanced age. It is a constant conflict and is left unresolved by Updike as to what is actually taking place, how much is magic and how much is scientific.
This conflict is embodied by Darryl Van Horne's replacement, Chris Gabriel. The scene in which Chris is originally summoned by Gretta Neff is a very magical scene and yet when it is later explained by Chris, it was nothing more than a phone call. It is similar to the attacks which Chris makes on Jane and then Lexa. His electron shooter springs from work he did with Darryl and alludes to the devil's work from the original novel, yet Chris himself admits that he doesn't think it works. The discomfort which Jane felt that was originally attributed to Chris could have very well been just her aged body failing her.
So my question is, do these plausible or semi-plausible explanations for the magical elements remove the novel from being considered Magical Realism? If it doesn't, would it be considered more Magically Real or less than the first novel? I believe the novel still can be considered Magical Realism. Updike's characters' propensity to search for logical answers for the magical elements is reflective of the western mindset. It is that propensity which is at the heart of many Latin American author's belief that White America cannot write within the genre. Yet in my opinion, Updike accomplishes just that. By allowing his characters to question what is actually happening, he creates a realistic western reaction to magic. But moments like the regeneration of Sukie's former lover's hand or Jane's death at the price moment she drew her tarot card, suggest that the magic is real and it is more than just a coincidence. So there is the natural questioning of anything which does not follow logic and accepted reality, but the narrative suggests that these moments are actually taking place. The result is a viable form of Magical Realism written by a White American. For the second question, I feel that the second novel is actually more Magically Real than the first. The first novel may contain more actual instances of magic, but it ends with the women trying to undermine the reality of that magic to help alleviate their own guilt of Jenny Gabriel. In this novel, they take the opposite road as they try to get back in touch with the power they once enjoyed. Of course the attempt to distance themselves from that power yet again after Jane's death, but the events that follow (the pregnancy and healing of the hand), provide an affirmation which cannot be denied.
Switching gears, I did enjoy the Witches of Eastwick more. This novel wrapped up a few loose ends from the first, but it tended to meander a little more. It took the first two thirds of the book for the women to even get back to Eastwick. It also covered a greater amount of time through the course of the narrative. Months turn into years before the story gets from start to end. I think those gaps disrupt the flow of the novel. The continuity of time in the first one created a different energy level. In the Widows of Eastwick, the energy ebbs and flows as different story lines reach their full arc before a new one begins. I did enjoy both though and they are worth a read.
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