Literary notes about Generality (AI summary)
The term “generality” in literature has been employed in diverse ways, ranging from the depiction of abstract laws and universal principles to characterizations of common behavioral attributes in groups. In works such as Darwin’s, "generality" underscores the sweeping, cross-continental applicability of natural laws [1, 2], while Rousseau uses it to denote the inclusive quality required in collective decisions [3]. At the same time, authors like Poe and Bergson reflect on the tension between precise detail and the broad scope embodied in generality [4, 5, 6, 7]. Moreover, the expression appears in discussions of societal norms and stereotypes, as seen when it is used to describe the average traits of women or the common manners of the populace [8, 9, 10]. Overall, the term functions as a conceptual bridge between abstract universality and the concrete specificity of individuals or cases, demonstrating its flexible role within literary discourse.
- It is a law of the widest generality, and every continent offers innumerable instances.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - This fact alone, from its generality, seems to have shaken Professor Pictet in his belief in the immutability of species.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - [1] To be general, a will need not always be unanimous; but every vote—must be counted: any exclusion is a breach of generality.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - The generality of the expression of L’Etoile is a mere perversion of the witness’ phraseology.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1 by Edgar Allan Poe - I wish to describe, but am disheartened by the difficulty of description, and hesitate between detail and generality.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - But it; will, for this very reason, assume a character of generality that it cannot have when we apply it to ourselves.
— from Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson - I wish to describe, but am disheartened by the difficulty of description, and hesitate between detail and generality.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe - "I wish I could fix my mind on what I hear there more firmly than I do," she remarked as a safe generality.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy - I am sure you have thought a great deal more than the generality of servants think.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - Many times in a morning, the generality of them would eat up all they had, and yet have some further supply against they wanted.
— from Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson by Mary White Rowlandson
