Which Cuban author introduced the concept of 'lo real maravilloso'?

The Cuban author who introduced the concept of *lo real maravilloso* was Alejo Carpentier. He developed the idea to describe how Latin American history, culture, geography, and collective beliefs could appear extraordinary without needing invented supernatural events.

Carpentier presented the concept in an article published in 1948 and expanded it in the prologue to his 1949 novel *The Kingdom of This World*. That novel portrays the Haitian Revolution and draws on figures and episodes from Haitian history, including the revolutionary leader François Mackandal and King Henri Christophe.

The phrase is often treated as identical to “magical realism,” but Carpentier’s formulation has a distinct emphasis. For him, the marvelous could arise from real historical experience and the clash of different cultural worldviews. Gabriel García Márquez is strongly associated with magical realism, but Carpentier introduced this earlier, specifically Latin American theory.