Coincidences: Synchronicity, Verisimilitude, and StorytellingMost people have a story to tell about a remarkable coincidence that in some instances changed the course of their lives. These uncanny occurrences have been variously interpreted as evidence of divine influence, fate, or the collective unconscious. Less common are explanations that explore the social situations and personal preoccupations of the individuals who place the most weight on coincidences. Drawing on a variety of coincidence stories, renowned anthropologist Michael Jackson builds a case for seeing them as allegories of separation and loss—revealing the hope of repairing sundered lives, reconnecting estranged friends, reuniting distant kin, closing the gap between people and their gods, and achieving a sense of emotional and social connectedness with others in a fragmented world. |
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asked Auckland Berg Blaise Cendrars brother C. G. Jung called Canetti Casals chance chief child coincidence connection dark daughter death divine dreams Eichmann Eichmann in Jerusalem Elias Canetti Elie Wiesel everything experience explain fate father feel film Gabe Gbeyekan Momori hand Hannah Arendt happened Heaven Hemingway human images Joyce Joyita Jung’s Kamla killed knew Kuranko later lives London look lost Manuscript Māori meaning memory mind mother moved mysterious never night Nowak one’s ourselves parents Paul Auster Pauline person Petra play Primo Levi question recount relationship Renata Sally Scott Berg sense ship Sierra Leone slave Small Thing social someone Souchou speak story suffering synchronicity talk Tarawera tell Theodor Adorno Thomas Wolfe thought tion told train trans University Press Vladimir Nabokov wife woman words writing wrote York young Zealand