Literary notes about Novice (AI summary)
The term "novice" in literature is often deployed to emphasize inexperience, naivety, or the initial stage of acquiring skill or wisdom. Authors use it to portray a character’s lack of familiarity with a particular art, trade, or even life itself, as when a political beginner reflects on his limited know-how [1] or a young person hesitates in intimate encounters [2]. It may also carry a formal or even ritualistic connotation, designating one undergoing initiation into religious or professional orders [3, 4]. At times, its use is pejorative, marking someone as unsophisticated or clumsy, while in other contexts it serves a self-deprecating or humorous purpose, contrasting the novice with an experienced counterpart [5, 6]. This flexible usage underscores the journey from inexperience to mastery in various realms of human endeavor [7, 8].
- I now see that I was only a novice in the trade of politics.
— from The King James Version of the Bible - The princess might kiss her as much as she pleased, but the novice had not the courage to return her kisses.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - II 10 Helpe then, O holy Virgin chiefe of nine, ° Thy weaker Novice to performe thy will; Lay forth out of thine everlasting scryne
— from Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book I by Edmund Spenser - In the course of the initiation, the [Pg 125] novice is led to the foot of a nurtunja erected for the occasion.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim - An armed novice cannot mount his horse without help and plenty of it.
— from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain - You may be certain that I will play my part not as a novice but as a master.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - I am a novice, and my blunders will set every one against me, if you do not give me your counsel.
— from Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac - I’ve often maintained that that question should not be approached by a novice till he has a firm faith in the system.
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
