Literary notes about Occurrence (AI summary)
In literature, the word "occurrence" is employed as a multifaceted term that extends beyond the simple notion of an event. It can denote a moment of chance or fate—a pivotal incident that shapes character destiny, as seen when a man is left vulnerable to any chance occurrence [1] or when a strange and novel occurrence evokes wonder [2]. At the same time, it is used to underscore the mundane, highlighting events that happen with a certain regularity in everyday life, as in the depiction of daily happenings that define a social milieu [3, 4, 5]. In more reflective and philosophical contexts, "occurrence" bridges the external with the internal, representing not only what transpires in the physical world but also pointing to the subtle emergence of thought and memory [6, 7]. Thus, throughout literary works, the term serves to emphasize the spectrum of events—from the common to the extraordinary—that propel both narrative progression and introspection.
- Such a man is at the mercy of any chance occurrence that may overtake him.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - Now, tell me, was not this a novel and strange occurrence?
— from Hung Lou Meng, or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, Book I by Xueqin Cao - Robberies in the streets were of daily occurrence, in consequence of the immense sums, in paper, which people carried about with them.
— from Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay - Senator Brown, of Mississippi, could not be ignorant of many such facts as these, for they are of frequent occurrence in every Southern State.
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs - [118] This question, instead of offending the class, amused them, and many laughed—it was a daily occurrence.
— from The Reign of Greed by José Rizal - These two ways of using words, including their occurrence in inner speech, may be spoken of together as the use of words in "thinking."
— from The Analysis of Mind by Bertrand Russell - The occurrence of the content of a thought constitutes the occurrence of the thought.
— from The Analysis of Mind by Bertrand Russell