Literary notes about Denigration (AI summary)
In literature, the term denigration is often employed to highlight acts of belittlement and bias, whether in political, social, or personal realms. It is used to describe campaigns aimed at undermining national stature [1] and personal rivalries fueled by feelings of inadequacy and envy [2]. Authors frequently critique the act of unjustly devaluing someone's reputation, as when a writer expresses disinterest in the needless disparagement of a man worthy of respect [3] or notes the weight of a nearly infinite disparagement conveyed in a single term [4]. The word even surfaces in historical and rhetorical contexts, where it is defined as a “clouding” of distinctions [5] and connected to broader processes that degrade social hierarchies [6]. Its versatility is further seen in its critique of both the traditional and the avant-garde, questioning whether elevating new fields necessarily entails the denigration of older techniques [7], while also portraying a somewhat inexplicable pleasure in diminishing the gifted [8].
- The newspaper which led the campaign of denigration against France has come to another view.
— from The Open Secret of Ireland by Tom Kettle - It was the consciousness of his own age and physical inferiority that drove him to jealous denigration of his mistress.
— from The Man Shakespeare and His Tragic Life Story by Frank Harris - I confess I do not care to occupy myself with the denigration of a man who, on the whole, deserves to be spoken of with respect.
— from Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews by Thomas Henry Huxley - The tone in which Mary pronounced the word “second-rate” implied an almost infinite denigration.
— from Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley - Denigrati ó ne, a denigration, a clouding.
— from Queen Anna's New World of Words; or, Dictionarie of the Italian and English Tongues by John Florio - Deification of emperors, during the era of the Caesars, led to the denigration and degradation of the common man.
— from Civilization and Beyond: Learning from History by Scott Nearing - Does it involve some hyping of the new hot field, some denigration of the older techniques?
— from The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind by James Boyle - The pleasure men take in denigration of the gifted is one of the puzzles of life to those who are not envious.
— from Oscar Wilde, His Life and Confessions — Volume 1 by Frank Harris
