Literary notes about Committee (AI summary)
In literature, the term “committee” is often used to denote an organized body charged with decision-making, oversight, or the management of complex affairs. In Samuel Pepys’s diary, for instance, it appears multiple times ([1], [2], [3], [4]) to illustrate bureaucratic processes and the sometimes absurd divisions of labor in society, while in works like Sinclair Lewis’s "Babbitt" and Conan Doyle’s "The Lost World" ([5], [6], [7]) committees are portrayed as both influential arbiters and subjects of satire. Historical writings and formal reports ([8], [9], [10]) employ the term to underscore the weight of institutional authority and the procedural nature of governance. Thus, the word “committee” in literature encapsulates a range of connotations—from the serious and methodical to the incongruously farcical—mirroring the multifaceted roles such groups play in society.
- We broke up, leaving the thing to a Committee of which I am one.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys - to see with what patience Lord Ashly did stay all the morning to get a Committee, little thinking that I know the reason of his willingnesse.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys - Thence to White Hall, and after long staying there was no Committee of the Fishery as was expected.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys - Up, and with Sir W. Batten and Sir J. Minnes to the Committee of the Lords, and there did our business; but, Lord!
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys - “Then, second: Course the school has its advertising committee, but, Lord, nobody ever really works good—nobody works well just for the love of it.
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis - You are a man whose veracity is upon trial, and this committee is here to try it.
— from The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle - VIII The Committee on Resolutions was reporting.
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis - On behalf of the National Woman's Rights Central Committee, ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, President ; SUSAN B. ANTHONY, Secretary .
— from The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) by Ida Husted Harper - REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE OHIO SENATE, ON GIVING THE RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE TO FEMALES.
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I - Senators Hammond, Ramsey, and Colvin constituted the Judiciary Committee, to whom the bill was referred.
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I