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Literary notes about SOUVENIR (AI summary)

The term "souvenir" in literature spans a wide spectrum of meanings, from a simple memento to an emblem of enduring memory. Early French texts [1][2][3] define it as a recollection or impression retained by the mind, while novelists often imbue the object with deeper emotional resonance. Stendhal, for instance, employs the term to capture a cherished remnant of a joyful encounter [4], and Conan Doyle uses it to anchor a narrative of personal intrigue [5][6]. Authors like Helen Keller and Guy de Maupassant further explore its symbolic weight, associating it with historical moments and tender farewells [7][8][9], and even framing it as a token of adventures and lost histories [10][11][12]. Thus, across diverse contexts, the souvenir becomes a bridge between the tangible and the intangible, evoking both memory and sentiment.
  1. reconnaissance , f. , souvenir, gratitude d'un bien reçu.
    — from French Conversation and Composition by Harry Vincent Wann
  2. souvenir , m. , impression que la mémoire conserve d'une chose.
    — from French Conversation and Composition by Harry Vincent Wann
  3. souvenir : se --, avoir mémoire d'une chose.
    — from French Conversation and Composition by Harry Vincent Wann
  4. 'Here,' she said, 'keep this souvenir of a happy night; I shall never forget it.—Why are you a Colonel?'
    — from On Love by Stendhal
  5. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my assistance in the case of the
    — from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
  6. Since we have been so unfortunate as to miss him and have no notion of his errand, this accidental souvenir becomes of importance.
    — from The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
  7. So much appears in the Volta Bureau Souvenir.
    — from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
  8. You must bring me back something; a mere trifle, just a souvenir, but a souvenir that you have chosen for me.
    — from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant
  9. He always carried in his hand a superb cane with a gold knob, which must have been for him some glorious souvenir.
    — from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant
  10. Brazil and coffee; souvenir of the Louisiana purchase exposition. 1904.
    — from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers
  11. Souvenir of the Louisiana purchase exposition. 1904.
    — from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers
  12. It is a very interesting souvenir of Columbus, and of the Fair White City; but I cannot imagine what discoveries I have made,—I mean new discoveries.
    — from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

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