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Literary notes about Nonchalance (AI summary)

The term "nonchalance" has been employed in literature to convey an air of effortless detachment or calm indifference, often masking deeper emotional currents. For instance, Dostoyevsky illustrates a character’s seemingly indifferent posture, as seen while Verhovensky lounges without greeting others ([1]) and silently cuts his nails with unruffled ease ([2]). Similarly, Molière’s character adopts a mannered casualness in both speech and action ([3]), while Edgar Allan Poe uses the demeanor in varied contexts—from a cat’s demure inspection of its surroundings ([4], [5]) to a character whose cool exterior belies underlying agitation ([6]), and even in a more overtly mock-serious remark ([7]). Further reinforcing the notion, Emerson ([8]) and French instructional texts ([9]) define the word as an embodiment of indifference and carelessness, a sentiment also echoed in the works of Stephen Crane ([10]), F. Scott Fitzgerald ([11]), and Paramahansa Yogananda ([12]).
  1. II With conspicuous nonchalance Verhovensky lounged in the chair at the upper end of the table, almost without greeting anyone.
    — from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  2. Without even raising his eyes, however, he went on cutting his nails with perfect nonchalance.
    — from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  3. She affects a nonchalance in her speech and in her actions.
    — from The Middle-Class Gentleman by Molière
  4. The cat was lying very demurely upon my coat, which I had taken off, and eyeing the pigeons with an air of nonchalance.
    — from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe
  5. The cat was lying very demurely upon my coat, which I had taken off, and eyeing the pigeons with an air of nonchalance.
    — from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1 by Edgar Allan Poe
  6. Turning my eyes upon him, I perceived at once that, in spite of his assumed nonchalance , he was greatly agitated.
    — from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe
  7. Nonchalance:—Your diddler is nonchalant.
    — from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe
  8. [160] Nonchalance , a French word meaning indifference , coolness .
    — from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  9. nonchalance , f. , négligence, manque de soin.
    — from French Conversation and Composition by Harry Vincent Wann
  10. He sat on a table in the Johnson home and dangled his checked legs with an enticing nonchalance.
    — from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane
  11. He settled his coat with an attempt at nonchalance, but letting go of the bar was too much for him, and he slumped against a chair.
    — from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  12. The women merely peep from the shadows, while the men lazily loll beneath the trees along the roadside, curious beneath their nonchalance.
    — from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

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