Literary notes about Inundation (AI summary)
The term "inundation" has been deployed in literature with striking versatility, shifting seamlessly between literal descriptions of floodwaters and metaphorical depictions of overwhelming forces. In certain texts, it vividly denotes the actual deluge that submerges lands or marks pivotal events—such as the mythic flood recounted in Filipino tales [1, 2] or the natural phenomenon described in historical and geographical accounts [3, 4]. Meanwhile, other authors harness the word metaphorically to evoke sensations of overpowering excess, whether referring to a barrage of emotions or even a surging tide of cultural influence, as seen in the energetic passages of Verne [5] and Rousseau [6]. This dual usage underscores the term's adaptability, enabling it to encapsulate both tangible natural disasters and the more abstract inundations of life and art, enriching the thematic texture of the works in which it appears [7, 8, 9].
- A few days after the inundation of the world, God sent a crow down to earth to see how deep the water was on the land.
— from Filipino Popular Tales - In the fact that the cause of the great inundation is a quarrel between two chief Pagan deities, there seems to be preserved an old native tradition.
— from Filipino Popular Tales - The above is what has been said on the subject of winds and rains, the rising of rivers, and the inundation of plains.
— from The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3) by Strabo - By the end of September the inundation is at its greatest height.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer - But at that moment no fear of falling in of the roof, or even of inundation was capable of stopping us.
— from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne - I might instance the arts, rising up in Egypt and expanding with the inundation of the Nile.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - What an Inundation of Ribbons and Brocades will break in upon us?
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 by Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele - At the point where its shock has been the most violent, the sea is driven back and, suddenly recoiling with redoubled force, causes the inundation.
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides - It was at Nuremberg that we struck the inundation of music-mad strangers that was rolling down upon Bayreuth.
— from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain
