Carol Mavor's first 'happy accident' occurred in 1980 when visiting New York's Serendipity 3, a dessert cafe favoured by Andy Warhol. Mavor's memory of eating a frozen hot chocolate became food for thought, nurturing accidental discoveries about art and literature.
The book's happy, yet dark, accidents include Anne Frank's journal, discovered in the Secret Annex after the Second World War; Emily Dickinson's poems, scribbled on salvaged envelopes, hidden in a drawer; and Lolita, rescued from incineration by Nabokov's wife Vera. Mavor's writing is dependent on serendipity's layers of happenstance, rousing feelings of something that she did not exactly know she was looking for until she found it.
All history is about loss, and in the case of this book, much of it is tragic
but Serendipity also offers the happiness that can be found in unexpected discoveries.
'Welcoming us into the afterlife of the happy accident, Mavor's poetic ruminations reveal a cavalcade of surprising connections between a diverse array of images and objects. In the process, Serendipity reflects on the magical power of writing itself, on the capacity of the learned essayist to take us on dizzying flights of fancy and into profound depths of understanding.'
Geoffrey Batchen, professor of history of art, University of Oxford
By:
Carol Mavor
Imprint: Reaktion Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781789149500
ISBN 10: 1789149509
Pages: 192
Publication Date: 01 January 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Preface My Early Education in Serendipity Introduction From a Smashed Thimble to Two Hares Falling Out of Breath Chapter One To Angelize Chapter Two Moeder, Maman, Mom - Anne Frank, Chantal Akerman, Dorothy Aileen Ashcraft Postscriptum Written After: Moeder, Maman, Mom or, I sang so hard I almost exploded Chapter Three Sally Mann's Scarred Tree - Tete-a-Tete with Proust's 'Three Trees' Chapter Four Making Poems Out of What Is Not There: The Envelopes of Emily Dickinson and London's Foundling Hospital Chapter Five Two Hares Falling Out of Breath Chapter Six Lolita's Gray Eyes Afterword References Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements
Carol Mavor is professor of art history and visual culture at the University of Manchester. She has published widely on photography, cinema, colour, and childhood. Her books include Aurelia: Art and Literature Through the Mouth of the Fairy Tale, also published by Reaktion Books.
Reviews for Serendipity: The Afterlife of the Object
"""Welcoming us into the afterlife of the happy accident, Mavor's poetic ruminations reveal a cavalcade of surprising connections between a diverse array of images and objects. In the process, Serendipity reflects on the magical power of writing itself, on the capacity of the learned essayist to take us on dizzying flights of fancy and into profound depths of understanding.""--Geoffrey Batchen, professor of history of art, University of Oxford"
