The Kingdom of This World

work by Carpentier

Also known as: “El reino de este mundo”

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June 30, 2026

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The Kingdom of This World is a novel by Alejo Carpentier, a prominent Latin American author and one of the pioneers of magic realism. The term magic realism refers to a narrative style that incorporates fantastical or mythical elements into realistic settings, often seen in Latin American literature. Carpentier himself defined magic realism as the representation of "marvelous American reality".123

The novel The Kingdom of This World is about the Haitian Revolution, a complex series of conflicts between 1791 and 1804 that led to the overthrow of French rule and the establishment of an independent nation founded by former slaves. Carpentier's work uses the historical events of the revolution as a backdrop to explore themes characteristic of magic realism.42

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Alejo Carpentier
…reino de este mundo (1950; The Kingdom of This World); it is about the Haitian revolution. In the prologue to this work, Carpentier expounds on magic realism, which he defines as the representation of “marvelous American reality.” His novel Los pasos perdidos (1953; The Lost Steps), his best-known work, is…
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…reino de este mundo (1950; The Kingdom of This World); it is about the Haitian revolution. In the prologue to this work, Carpentier expounds on magic realism, which he defines as the representation of “marvelous American reality.” His novel Los pasos perdidos (1953; The Lost Steps), his best-known work, is…
Read More

Latin American literature
The modern novel
…reino de este mundo (1949; The Kingdom of This World). Asturias’s novel, about the dictatorship of Manuel Estrada Cabrera in Guatemala, employs Surrealist techniques to create an aura of fear and the sense that events are guided by supernatural forces, echoing Native American beliefs. Carpentier writes about Haiti from 1750…
Read More
…reino de este mundo (1949; The Kingdom of This World). Asturias’s novel, about the dictatorship of Manuel Estrada Cabrera in Guatemala, employs Surrealist techniques to create an aura of fear and the sense that events are guided by supernatural forces, echoing Native American beliefs. Carpentier writes about Haiti from 1750…
Read More