Literary notes about Irreversible (AI summary)
The term "irreversible" in literature carries a weighty sense of finality and inescapable consequence, often highlighting moments of transformation and destiny. In James Joyce’s work, it contrasts the fluidity of spatial movement with the fixed progression of time, suggesting a complex relationship between mobility and permanence [1]. Herman Melville, on the other hand, employs the word to denote a decisive, unchangeable step in a character’s life, marking a point of no return [2]. Plato’s allusion to the mythic Atropos reinforces this idea by linking the concept to the predetermined and unalterable weaving of fate [3], while George Santayana uses "irreversible" to emphasize how committed actions infuse lasting, real values into the fabric of human progress [4].
- An unsatisfactory equation between an exodus and return in time through reversible space and an exodus and return in space through irreversible time.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - Yes: his decision was irreversible.
— from Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street by Herman Melville - Atropos (one of the Fates), her song, 10. 617 C ; spins the threads of destiny, and makes them irreversible, ib.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato - As each will, therefore, comes to expression, real and irreversible values are introduced into the world, and
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
