Serendipity - The Afterlife of the Object

"An exploration of the sadness, as well as the joy, of unexpected discoveries in history and life. Carol Mavor's first "happy accident" occurred in 1980 when visiting New York's Serendipity 3, a dessert cafâe favored by Andy Warhol. Mavor's memory of eating a frozen hot chocolate became food for thought, nurturing accidental discoveries about art and literature. This 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 Vâera. 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."--

About the author

Carol Mavor is Emeritus 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 (Reaktion, 2017).

Product details

• Authors: Carol Mavor
• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.09.2024
• EAN: 9781789149500
• ISBN: 978-1-78914-950-0
• No. of pages: 224
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical, ART / History / General, HISTORY / Expeditions & Discoveries, History of art / art & design styles, True stories: discovery / historical / scientific, History of Art, True stories of discovery