Literary notes about SPECTRE (AI summary)
The term "spectre" in literature unfolds a multifaceted significance that ranges from the tangible ghostly apparition to an abstract symbol of haunting dread and foreboding change. At times, it designates a literal phantom manifesting in eerie landscapes—a figure that glides silently, elicits terror, or looms with a menacing presence ([1], [2], [3]). In other instances, authors employ it metaphorically to evoke suppressed memories, existential anxieties, or even sociopolitical threats, as seen when it represents the intangible shadow of past events or impending revolution ([4], [5], [6]). Whether conjuring the ghastly imagery of a forlorn, spectral bridegroom or encapsulating the creeping, infernal atmosphere enveloping characters’ lives, "spectre" becomes a powerful device that imbues narrative settings and moods with both physical and symbolic eeriness ([7], [8], [9]).
- He exclaimed, and seized the Spectre by the arm.
— from The Monk: A Romance by M. G. Lewis - He came towards me silently, with his arms crossed, gliding like a spectre rather than walking.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne - Right in front of him was standing a horrible spectre, motionless as a carven image, and monstrous as a madman's dream!
— from The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde - It may be that his pathway through life was haunted thus by a spectre that had stolen out from among his thoughts.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - [From the English edition of 1888, edited by Friedrich Engels] A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of Communism.
— from The Communist Manifesto by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx - A ragged end of a battalion was pressing past, the spectre of annihilation.
— from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers - The spectre, after listening for a moment, joined in the mournful dirge; and floated out upon the bleak, dark night.
— from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - In short, he looked as he would have done had he seen a spectre, or had he, indeed, been a spectre himself.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding - The lives of real Christians rebuked me, and the mockery of my empty profession haunted me like a spectre. RECLAMATION.
— from The Heart-Cry of Jesus by Byron J. Rees
