Literary notes about Erudition (AI summary)
In literature, “erudition” is employed in a richly varied manner, often serving as a marker of deep learning and cultural refinement while simultaneously providing authors a tool for irony and critique. At times the term is used to exalt genuine scholarship and classical mastery, as when a character’s wealth of knowledge is portrayed as a treasure trove of intellectual achievement [1, 2]. In contrast, its application can also be decidedly satirical, highlighting a kind of pomposity or superficiality—illustrated by remarks on “false and garbled erudition” or references to overblown scholarly reputations [3, 4]. Moreover, “erudition” may serve to comment on social hierarchies and the shifting values surrounding education and learning, revealing that while deep knowledge can command respect, it is not immune to ridicule when divorced from practical wisdom [5, 6]. This flexible usage underscores the constant interplay in literature between genuine intellectual accomplishment and the caricature of excessive academic display.
- His reasoning is clear and informed by a profound erudition.
— from Notes on Life & Letters by Joseph Conrad - He was learned even to erudition, and almost an Orientalist.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - I have lived, I live, I shall live in a perpetual burst of laughter at their false and garbled erudition.
— from Atlantida by Pierre Benoît - He had never been fond of Mr. Casaubon, and if it had not been for the sense of obligation, would have laughed at him as a Bat of erudition.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot - By the way, the rumours of the university-porter's erudition are very exaggerated.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - Dr. Johnson never attained to that erudition; Noah Webster’s ark does not hold it.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville
