I got one of those slightly spooky feelings when checking the radio listings yesterday evening to see if there was anything not to be missed.
The Radio 3 Essay at 10.45, the theme this week ‘Personal reflections on different aspects of the life, work and influence of WG Sebald.’ The translator’s view, to be given by – Andrea Bell. On the very day I had written my blog note.
Of course nothing really spooky, statistically significant, or even interesting to anyone but me, about that small co-incidence in time.
I may well have heard the name of such a distinguished translator, read of, even read, her work long before now, without the name lodging in the memory bank until I read that comment in the Bellos book.
When things do suddenly lodge in the front part of your brain you are often amazed to find how ubiquitous they are – indeed this is far from being the first time that Anthea Bell’s work has appeared on Radio 3.
Such small coincidences happen all the time. The really interesting question is why do a very few sometimes spark a new hypothesis, a really Big Idea.
