Literary notes about Gap (AI summary)
In literature, "gap" functions as a multi-layered term that bridges the tangible and the abstract. It often denotes a physical opening—a break in a hedge or a clearing in a thicket ([1], [2], [3])—that not only allows characters to pass through or observe hidden facets of their surroundings ([4], [5]) but also symbolizes moments of transition or revelation. Simultaneously, gaps emerge as conceptual spaces: voids in communication, history, or thought that invite interpretation or completion ([6], [7], [8]), while also representing psychological or social absences that demand bridging or filling ([9], [10]). This dual usage enriches narrative depth by prompting readers to consider both the visible openings in the world and the unseen fissures in our understanding.
- A flushed young man came from a gap of a hedge and after him came a young woman with wild nodding daisies in her hand.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - " She turned, and pointed back to a place at the junction of the road to London and the road to Hampstead, where there was a gap in the hedge.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - He ran distractedly, his pistol in his hand, towards a gap in the hedge.
— from The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - As I stood agape, I saw a little red spark go drifting across a gap of starlight between the branches, and vanish.
— from The Time Machine by H. G. Wells - A broadening gap of green water appeared under me, and I pushed back with all my strength to avoid falling headlong.
— from The island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells - But there were no orders for the other alternative; they passed through a gap in the instructions.
— from The History of a Crime by Victor Hugo - There is an enormous gap in our thinking between reality and invention and we accord an entirely different valuation to reality.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud - To think means, in any case, to bridge a gap in experience, to bind together facts or deeds otherwise isolated.
— from How We Think by John Dewey - Here is the gap which psychoanalysis aims to fill.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud - And the gap of one word does not feel like the gap of another, all empty of content as both might seem necessarily to be when described as gaps.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James
