 This being one of the first books in the genre, Carpentier had no guarantee of finding an audience and even covered publication costs himself.His conception of 'marvellous reality' revolves around the natural fantastic qualities of Latin America and the Caribbean, as opposed to the overly forced and cliché efforts by European surrealists to portray magical occurrences.The result was the presentation of impossible or fantastic events described as if they were completely usual and natural, such as the metamorphoses of Macandal and Ti Noel.