Coincidences in the Novel: Charlotte Brontë and George Eliot to Evelyn Waugh and David Nicholls

If, as displeased reviewers and readers sometimes complain, coincidences mar good plots, why do so many novels turn on them? From Charlotte Brontë and George Eliot, to Sebastian Barry and David Nicholls, novelists have relied on coincidences.
While these can reveal the weaknesses of a novel’s design, they can also be put to creative use: as we will see, novelists, like Charles Dickens, Evelyn Waugh and Muriel Spark, choose to emphasise coincidences, making them entertaining and revealing.
A lecture by John Mullan
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
www.gresham.ac...
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[@nathalievasquez2849]

Excellent! If only all teachers could make their material come alive like this one, we would be in a whole different world!

[@josie_posie809]

I love this. That bit about Jane Eyre always bothered me but still one of my favorite books. Grateful to have it settled 🙏🏽

[@thejcquartet6943]

Hmm... but we only have Estella's word and likewise Pip's word that they had both not been back to Satis house in the previous 11 years. That dilutes the huge coincidence quite a bit in that it offers explanations that we will never know. But it is such a great book that I would be happy with either ending, one more prosaic, one with a magical and ambiguous touch.

[@kahkah1986]

Same with Jane Eyre, she insists things were a coincidence which would be better explained by scheming. She can't admit she chooses Rochester over St John, for example.

[@ZitaLewis-up6ux]

Fabulous lecture thank you

[@theresahemminger1587]

Wonderful lecture!

[@gracetaylor7351]

I love this love Jane eyre like Charles dickens, George Eliot, and Jane Austen . Love this videos that John mullan does.

[@louisgiokas2206]

This reminds me of a conversation I had with an English Literature major, in the third quarter of the last century of the last millennium, on the novels of DH Lawrence. Now I was a physics major, I was also a great fan of Lawrence. In fact, on one of my travels in Europe I was at Col. Grey's house in London, and there was a guy there who was a doppelganger for Lawarence. Also, on that trip I bought a copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover. My friend looked over it an determined it was the expurgated version. He was working on a thesis that looked at the circular imagery in Lawarence's major novels. I thought this was a bit much. Actually, I was auditing a course on Lawarence in the literature department, and it turned out I had read and digested much more than the English Literature majors.
My point is that a lot of these issues such as circular images in Lawarence, and coincidences in novels have nothing to do with how we perceive these works. It is a way for literature majors to justify themselves.

[@LaurentCarty]

"Lawarence?"

[@louisgiokas2206]

@@LaurentCarty Yes.

[@LaurentCarty]

@@louisgiokas2206 sorry but what is this spelling?

[@louisgiokas2206]

@@LaurentCarty Oh, I see. I typed it incorrectly. It is Lawrence. Hope that helps.

[@LaurentCarty]

I thought it was an alternative spelling, sorry!
@@louisgiokas2206

[@marymcgonigal9087]

Marvellous!

[@irvingclarendon6227]

Coincidence is a narrative crutch, the parting bush.