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Literary notes about Distance (AI summary)

In literature, the term "distance" serves multiple functions, from denoting measurable physical space to symbolizing emotional or conceptual separation. Authors use it literally to describe lengths or gaps in terrain—as when Jefferson refers to varying lengths for different kinds of fire ([1]), or Verne documents leagues of sea voyage and vast icy expanses ([2], [3]). At other times, the word is employed to create atmosphere or emphasize relational detachment, as seen in Plato’s counsel to keep individuals at arm’s length ([4]) and in Boswell’s depiction of fragmented truths that never fully converge ([5]). Additionally, "distance" finds its role in setting scenes where objects or figures appear faint or far-off, contributing to mystery or anticipation in narratives like those of Hawthorne ([6]) and Dickens ([7]). This spectrum of usage highlights the versatility of "distance" as both a measurable quantity and a metaphor for separation, revealing layers of meaning that enrich literary expression.
  1. Choice of the different kinds of fire according to the nature of the object aimed at and the distance.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  2. Verne's novel features a tour of the major oceans, and the term Leagues in its title is used as a measure not of depth but distance.
    — from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne
  3. " We were in open sea; but at a distance of about ten yards, on either side of the Nautilus, rose a dazzling wall of ice.
    — from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne
  4. They are to be treated with perfect justice; but, for their own sake, to be kept at a distance.
    — from Laws by Plato
  5. The parts of a truth, which a man gets thus, are at such a distance from each other that he never attains to a full view.
    — from Boswell's Life of Johnson by James Boswell
  6. Here was a fine prospect in the distance.
    — from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  7. Singularly low, as if, instead of being so close behind him, it were at a distance.
    — from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

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