Literary notes about Quarantine (AI summary)
The word "quarantine" appears in literature with a wide range of meanings and uses. In some works it is used literally—as a place or period of isolation for health, safety, or prevention of disease—as seen in references to Quarantine Island with its lighthouse and coal hulks [1] and official state measures to prevent the spread of blight or disease [2][3]. In other works, however, “quarantine” takes on more metaphorical or extended meanings. For instance, it can describe a state of dormancy or isolation imposed on a person or society, as when a palace is likened to being in quarantine with a yellow flag floating [4] or when social exclusion is metaphorically expressed as quarantine by Stumpy guarding access to a coveted honor [5]. Additionally, the term can serve as a narrative device in travel or journey accounts with enforced waiting periods, such as in The Count of Monte Cristo [6] and in journeys documented in The Lani People where it is directly questioned [7][8][9]. This breadth of use demonstrates how "quarantine" in literature has evolved to evoke varied themes of isolation, enforced separation, and the interruption of normal experience.
- They could see the lighthouse shining on Quarantine Island, and the green lights on the old coal hulks.
— from Bliss, and other stories by Katherine Mansfield - Strict State Quarantine regulations have been enforced, to prevent chestnut blight from spreading to the West Coast.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - We also had some information from the U. S. Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, Washington, D. C., together with some illustrated material.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - "It is as if the palace were in quarantine, with the yellow flag floating."
— from Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812 by Emperor of the French Napoleon I - Again Stumpy imposed a kind of quarantine upon those who aspired to the honor and privilege of holding The Luck.
— from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales by Bret Harte - I took a week to go, another to return, four days of quarantine, and forty-eight hours to stay there; that makes three weeks.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - “Why the quarantine?”
— from The Lani People by Jesse F. Bone - If we quarantine those stations and work fast, may be we can stop this before it spreads all over the island.”
— from The Lani People by Jesse F. Bone - “Quarantine them,” Kennon replied.
— from The Lani People by Jesse F. Bone
