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Literary notes about Repugnance (AI summary)

In literature, “repugnance” is frequently used to convey a complex mixture of emotional and moral aversion that can be both superficial and deeply ingrained. Authors employ the term to describe an instinctive, sometimes socially conditioned reaction—such as Emma’s feigned disdain for a letter in order to maintain appearances [1]—while others use it to capture a more profound, almost visceral inner resistance, as when old animosities are suddenly revived by a familiar voice [2]. It serves not only to illustrate a character’s personal disgust or moral conflict but also to comment on broader human experiences, from a natural repulsion toward elements of nature or unconventional behavior [3, 4] to an intellectual disquiet when confronting unsettling social or ethical realities [5, 6]. Whether expressing a courteous reluctance in a delicate social situation or depicting a raw, instinctive reaction to perceived impropriety, “repugnance” remains a versatile and nuanced term that enriches narrative tone and deepens our understanding of characters’ inner lives [7, 8].
  1. Emma gave him back the letter; then at dinner, for appearance’s sake, she affected a certain repugnance.
    — from Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
  2. When she heard Peters's voice accosting her all her old repugnance resurged.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  3. Through the whole of his life, Tiberius seems to have conducted himself with a uniform repugnance to nature.
    — from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius
  4. The repugnance to animal food is not the effect of experience, but is an instinct.
    — from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
  5. “Do you mean to say that the repugnance felt by the masses for illicit love and moral laxity is a prejudice?” “Of course it is.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  6. There must be a sort of repugnance in me to BELIEVE anything definite about myself.—Is there perhaps some enigma therein?
    — from Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
  7. I die without repugnance: There are few, who will lament my leaving them; There are few, whom I lament to leave.
    — from The Monk: A Romance by M. G. Lewis
  8. There must have been some reason which led Varvara Petrovna to resolve to listen to such a man in spite of her repugnance.
    — from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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