What about literary coincidences? I've just read The Woman in White, and what are the chances that the protagonist (Walter Hartright) bumps into a woman in London who has direct connections with the family in rural Cumbria (300 miles away) whom he is about to start working for?!
Literary coincidences like that were everywhere in Victorian novels, sometimes they move the plot forward in magical ways, and other times they really test our suspension of disbelief.
I actually love how The Woman in White walks that line. Do you think Collins pulls it off, or did that moment take you out of the story a bit?
What about literary coincidences? I've just read The Woman in White, and what are the chances that the protagonist (Walter Hartright) bumps into a woman in London who has direct connections with the family in rural Cumbria (300 miles away) whom he is about to start working for?!
Great point!
Literary coincidences like that were everywhere in Victorian novels, sometimes they move the plot forward in magical ways, and other times they really test our suspension of disbelief.
I actually love how The Woman in White walks that line. Do you think Collins pulls it off, or did that moment take you out of the story a bit?
It was slightly unbelievable, but did work as a plot device. I suspended my disbelief!!