Fear in Writing: Serendipitous Barthes

Today in Literary History

Today in Literary History...December 14, 1907: Rudyard Kipling receives the Nobel prize for literature, the first English-language writer to do so.ud

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Serendipitous Barthes

Heard of Roland Barthes?  A Vanity Fair article on the man caught my eye in November, but I didn't think much more about him beyond the back cover.  Then I walked through the bookstore.  And there, in the clearance rack, was a Barthes Reader.  Clearance?  Barthes?  It was serendipitous.  I just had to buy it, and I did.

Is serendipity just luck?  Does it mean something is "meant to be?"  Or is it a truly fortuitous coincidence?

I don't know.  I don't even know if I'll like the Barthes Reader.  But I know a good idea when I have one.  And if something pops into my head because of a find like this--a find twice pushed in my face--then I'll know true serendipity.

How about you?  Do you ever find something great by luck, an idea or even a purchase?

7 comments:

  1. Michele - Oh, that's so interesting that you found that Barthes! I think that if we're open to it, serendipity can certainly happen. I know it did when my family and I moved to California. It just so happened that someone at my husband's company was planning to leave, so he was able to get a transfer within his company to California instead of having to look for a new job. Talk about planning to go to the right place at the right time...

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  2. It was meant to be! And on clearance as well.

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  3. Yes, it happens from time to time that I find something great or useful by luck. Once I bought the Numerical Recipes book for $3 in a Salvation Army 2nd hand store. New price is $80. And some years ago I found The Picture of Dorian Gray for 50 cents in the Left Hand Bookstore in Boulder >:)

    Cold As Heaven

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  4. Serendipity has given me shivers down my spine a time or two. Things happen for a reason; I don't believe in coincidence.

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  5. I believe everything happens for a reason, but sometimes it 'appears' as chance, as the wonderful serendipity of life. And I LOVE it when that happens!

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  6. I think serendipity or auspicious coincidence must be paid attention to. For instance I had a dream last week in which I saw this form swimming underwater. I asked my husband what it was (he knows everything) and he told me it was an 'aleph'. I have spent a lot of time this week tracking that down and I just realized that isn't serendipity but it is too late for me to think what it is! ha. So yes, read the book. There's a reason.

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  7. I tend to look at those things as meant to be, too. Unfortunately, my mind is more like a collander than a pot, so my most recent event--a highly recommended YA author who I heard of for the first time twice in the same day--once via book recommendation, once via NaNoWriMo--I have forgotten the name of! I will know it when I see it again though, and go straight to my library website and request something...

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