Literary notes about Irruption (AI summary)
The word “irruption” in literature has been used to evoke both sudden, transformative appearances and forceful invasions, often underscoring dramatic change. For instance, William James ([1]) and John Dewey ([2]) use the term to signify deep, internal awakenings or unforeseen insights disrupting the normal state of mind, emphasizing a metaphorical emergence from hidden realms. In contrast, historical narratives, such as those by Livy ([3], [4], [5]), Tacitus ([6]), and Mooney ([7]), employ “irruption” to describe military invasions and the abrupt emergence of hostile forces into established territories, highlighting both physical and societal upheavals. Meanwhile, in more literary and cultural contexts, Washington Irving ([8], [9], [10]) revels in the term’s ability to capture lively, almost whimsical incursions into conventional settings, and further nuanced by its lexical versatility as noted by Benito Pérez Galdós ([11]).
- The result is to make me feel that we all have potentially a 'subliminal' self, which may make at any time irruption into our ordinary lives.
— from The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by William James - It was the irruption into the mind of the things as they really were, free from the veil cast over them by preconceived ideas.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - The Albans first made an irruption into the Roman territories with a large army.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - In the next war there was another irruption of the enemy, more terrible to the country than to the city.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - Accordingly the state of the Cæninenses by itself makes an irruption into the Roman territory.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - They from thence made an irruption into Gaul, and seized that country which is still named from them Burgundy.
— from The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus by Cornelius Tacitus - The effect upon the Cherokee of this irruption of more than six thousand armed enemies into their territory was well nigh paralyzing.
— from Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney - The irruption of this motley crew with beat of drum, according to ancient custom, was the consummation of uproar and merriment.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving - Did such a scene admit of ludicrous associations, we might imagine something whimsical in this strange irruption in the regions of learning.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving - The late quiet streets of Little Britain are overrun with an irruption of strange figures and faces; every tavern is a scene of rout and revel.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving - irrupción f irruption, inburst, invasion.
— from Doña Perfecta by Benito Pérez Galdós
