Literary notes about Superfluity (AI summary)
In literature, the term “superfluity” is often employed to denote an unnecessary excess or surplus that can either burden a situation or undermine its intended effect. It appears in contexts ranging from the depiction of a sparse, solitary existence amidst overwhelming abundance, as when a character laments his isolation “in the midst of superfluity” [1], to critiques of redundant language or elaborate artistic embellishments that obscure true meaning [2] [3]. Authors also use the term to contrast abundance with necessity, questioning whether a surplus of wealth, goods, or even words truly adds value or simply leads to overindulgence [4] [5] [6]. This multifaceted usage underscores a broader literary meditation on the balance between what is required and what is simply excessive.
- “My dear friend, all those things I have, but I am a hermit in the midst of superfluity.”
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - (But, truly, many authors try to hide their poverty of thought under a superfluity of words.)
— from Essays of Schopenhauer by Arthur Schopenhauer - A timely consciousness of the ultimate vanity of human architecture, no less than of other human things, had prevented artistic superfluity.
— from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy - Corn is a necessary, silver is only a superfluity.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - The fruits of the earth were made for us all, and it never was intended that one man should have a superfluity and another starve.
— from Mr. Midshipman Easy by Frederick Marryat - The Soul-theory is, then, a complete superfluity, so far as accounting for the actually verified facts of conscious experience goes.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James
