Coincidence / hazard

The notion of hasard objectif is one of the central tenets of Surrealism as conceived by André Breton. It concerns disturbing coincidences, lacking all logic or reason, fathomed not merely subjectively but by some verifiable, external evidence. Photographs, for instance, as in his novel Nadja. I can’t really claim that my research into the history of my paternal grandparents meets this definition, but it is marked by unexpected coincidences. My friend D says that because of this new focus, I’m more attuned or receptive to certain things that were already out there, unnoticed. Like filings to a magnet, I say.

Reading through the letters my grandfather Charles Marsack sent to his old friend David Mansfield, whose widow must have given them to my mother, I found an account of an outing in Samoa. Charles was then Chief Justice of the territory. On 29 September 1952 he wrote:

The producer [i.e. Director] is pleased with the picture ‘Return to Paradise’ and predicts a substantial box-office success. Len Sinclair, Chérie [my grandmother] and I drove out to Lefaga one Saturday to see the company at work. Very dull, really; they go over and over a scene lasting perhaps a minute until you are sick of the sight and sound of it. The producer pulls no punches with his criticisms. He made the leading lady, Roberta Haynes, do one entrance about twenty times and was still dissatisfied; so he called her over and said ‘For heaven’s sake, Roberta, try to walk like a human being.’ Gary Cooper has to carry a sewing-machine into the fale [house/hut]. After he had ...