Literary notes about FUNDS (AI summary)
In literature, the term “funds” functions as a versatile shorthand for monetary resources, taking on both personal and collective meanings across genres and historical periods. Often, funds denote a private fortune or the means to finance personal ventures, as seen when Casanova requests money to travel to Cremona [1] or when characters like Dumas’s Porthos experience financial woes [2]. At other times, “funds” represent communal or state-controlled economic assets used to support public projects or political endeavors, as reflected in discussions of public expenditures and national finances [3], [4]. In addition to indicating available capital, authors sometimes use funds to underscore scarcity or mismanagement, adding dramatic tension to a narrative, such as when characters scramble to raise necessary money [5] or when public treasuries are implicated in corruption [6]. This multifaceted usage underscores the term’s central role in conveying the practical realities of financial life in both historical and fictional contexts.
- “It is only you,” he added, “who can furnish me with funds to go to Cremona.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - It is a demand that Porthos takes very ill when he is not in funds; but I know he must be so at present.”
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - This depreciation of their funds has not much the air of a nation lightening burdens and discharging debts.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke - The funds have risen, and a hundred millions at least will be in circulation in the course of the next week.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - Everything now seemed to be carefully prepared for my departure, and all that remained to be done was to raise the necessary funds for my undertaking.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner - Jean de Beaune, Baron de Semblançay, the old minister of finance, died a victim to false accusations of having misappropriated the public funds.
— from Manners, Customs, and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period by P. L. Jacob
