Final answer:
Option 3: The genre associated with Alejo Carpentier's "Journey to the Seed," characterized by the blending of fantastical elements with realistic details, is magical realism.
Step-by-step explanation:
In Alejo Carpentier's "Journey to the Seed," the narrative's experimentation with the boundaries of time and death are key features of the genre magical realism. This literary genre blends fantastical elements with realistic details, a style especially associated with Latin American authors like Gabriel García Márquez and Jorge Luis Borges. Magical realism is distinct from genres such as science fiction, which might also explore concepts like time travel but typically within a context that emphasizes scientific plausibility or futuristic settings.
Similarly, it differs from genres such as realism and modernism, where the narrative remains grounded in realistic portrayals of life, although modernist works may also experiment with narrative structure and form. Carpentier, through his work, became a seminal figure in popularizing magical realism, which portrays the extraordinary and surreal as a part of the mundane world, without the narrative astonishment common to pure fantasy.