Literary notes about Freethinker (AI summary)
The term "freethinker" has been employed diversely in literature, often reflecting the author's attitude toward independent thought and its consequences. In some works, such as Shaw's, it is used almost as a neutral or even commendatory label for someone who refuses to conform to conventional norms [1]. In contrast, authors like Dostoyevsky and Nietzsche imbue the term with a more critical nuance—suggesting that independent thought might be problematic or even subversive, especially in the context of religious or social conventions [2][3][4]. Alexander Pope's usage, found in several passages, oscillates between irony and derision, hinting that freethinking might lead to impracticality or folly [5][6]. Meanwhile, references in texts by Maupassant and Byron extend the concept to include affiliations with broader counter-cultural or nonconformist attitudes [7][8]. Together, these examples illustrate that "freethinker" in literature is a multifaceted term, simultaneously embodying both admiration for intellectual independence and criticism for its potential disruptive implications.
- No: she was a freethinker.
— from Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy by Bernard Shaw - To all this her mother replied that Alexandra was a freethinker, and that all this was due to that “cursed woman’s rights question.”
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Which of us would, forsooth, be a freethinker if there were no Church?
— from The Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - Has indeed any European, any Christian freethinker, ever yet wandered into this proposition and its labyrinthine consequences ?
— from The Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - That gay Freethinker, a fine talker once, What turns him now a stupid silent dunce?
— from An Essay on Man; Moral Essays and Satires by Alexander Pope - sour: } A smart Freethinker?
— from An Essay on Man; Moral Essays and Satires by Alexander Pope - You, a Freethinker, a Freemason?
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - There was Lord Pyrrho, too, the great freethinker; And Sir John Pottledeep, the mighty drinker.
— from Don Juan by Baron George Gordon Byron Byron