Literary notes about Inattentive (AI summary)
Writers employ “inattentive” in a variety of nuanced ways to deepen character profiles and highlight thematic undercurrents. In psychological discourse, the term pinpoints the subtle processes by which sensations often go unnoticed until disrupted, suggesting an inherent human tendency toward oversight ([1], [2]). In narrative fiction, characters are depicted as distracted or preoccupied—sometimes as a deliberate portrayal of their flaws or emotional detachment—as seen in portrayals that range from Jane Austen’s incisive social commentary ([3], [4], [5]) to the introspective observations in Charles Dickens and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s works ([6], [7]). At times, “inattentive” is used to critique broader societal or political neglect, underscoring a failure to remain engaged with critical issues ([8], [9], [10]). Across these varied contexts, the word enriches the text by subtly revealing both internal character dynamics and larger cultural commentaries.
- They are sensations to which we are usually inattentive , but which immediately call our attention if they go wrong .
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James - Exner writes: "Impressions to which we are inattentive leave so brief an image in the memory that it is usually overlooked.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James - I had not, Miss Crawford, been an inattentive observer of what was passing between him and some part of this family in the summer and autumn.
— from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - “I never saw a more promising inclination; he was growing quite inattentive to other people, and wholly engrossed by her.
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - He will be a completely gross, vulgar farmer, totally inattentive to appearances, and thinking of nothing but profit and loss.”
— from Emma by Jane Austen - Mr Brass, who seemed remarkably inattentive and impatient, mounted on his stool, and beckoning him to come nearer, took him by the button-hole.
— from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens - Raskolnikov muttered in reply, but with such a preoccupied and inattentive air that Dounia gazed at him in perplexity.
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you, and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves.
— from Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Thomas Jefferson - In fact the French government had not been inattentive to the views of the British, nor insensible to the crisis.
— from The Memoirs, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas JeffersonA Linked Index to the Project Gutenberg Editions by Thomas Jefferson - The report is a rational construction based and seated in present experience; it has no cogency for the inattentive and no existence for the ignorant.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
