Literary notes about Now (AI summary)
In literature, "now" is a remarkably versatile word, used to inject immediacy, mark transitions, or highlight a shift in perspective. Authors employ it to command attention or signify a turning point in the narrative, as in Sinclair Lewis’s emphatic address in "Babbitt" [1] and the dynamic contrast in Friedrich Nietzsche’s verse from "Thus Spake Zarathustra" [2]. At times, "now" signals a literal change in the scene or time, as Dickens does in "Bleak House" when shifting actions [3], or in Aesop’s fables where it marks the commencement of a journey [4]. In reflective moments, it underscores a character’s inner transformation, as seen in Tolstoy’s work [5, 6] and in poignant speeches throughout Shakespeare and other classics [7, 8]. Whether evoking urgency or a momentary pause to reassess present circumstances, "now" functions as a succinct marker bridging past and future, imbuing the text with a lively, temporal immediacy.
- Something black and unfamiliar and ferocious spoke from Babbitt: “Now, you look here, Charley!
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis - Once did people say God, when they looked out upon distant seas; now, however, have I taught you to say, Superman.
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - Come, come, Lady Dedlock, we must not fence and parry now.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens - Now on his way home he had to cross a plank lying across a running brook.
— from The Fables of Aesop by Aesop - And the clearness with which she saw life now, her own and all men’s, was a pleasure to her.
— from Anna Karenina by graf Leo Tolstoy - Then he had thought himself unhappy, but happiness was before him; now he felt that the best happiness was already left behind.
— from Anna Karenina by graf Leo Tolstoy - [Showing a paper] [Aside] How now, foolish rheum!
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - A single thing, as I am now, that wonders To hear thee speak of Naples.
— from The Tempest by William Shakespeare
