Literary notes about Transmutation (AI summary)
In literature, transmutation is a versatile term that connotes both literal and symbolic transformation. It is employed to evoke the alchemical process of converting base substances into something more refined, such as the legendary turning of barrels into gold [1] or the metaphysical conversion of metals [2, 3]. At the same time, authors use the term to illustrate inner metamorphoses—the subtle shift of emotions or character qualities that redefines one’s very essence [4, 5]. Moreover, transmutation serves as a metaphor for broader natural and cosmic change, describing everything from the dissipation of energy [6] to the magical interplay where colors and sounds merge into new forms [7, 8].
- ] Note 76 ( return ) [ Baronius gravely relates this discovery, or rather transmutation, of barrels, not of honey, but of gold, (Annal.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - The transmutation of Mars is an easy and merely mechanical process, but that of gold is philosophical in the highest degree.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - He took a house, fitted up a splendid laboratory, and gave out that he knew the secret of transmutation.
— from Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay - With remoteness of location comes transmutation of character.
— from Creative Intelligence: Essays in the Pragmatic Attitude by George H. Mead - Yet his aloofness—speaking solely of his work in verse—was on the whole lack of emotion, while hers is suppression, domination, transmutation of it.
— from Brazilian Literature by Isaac Goldberg - I refer to the fact that transmutation of energy involves a deterioration and dissipation of energy.
— from The Relations of Science and ReligionThe Morse Lecture, 1880 by Henry Calderwood - And so is the stately music, the transmutation of colour into sound.
— from The Healthy Life, Vol. V, Nos. 24-28The Independent Health Magazine by Various - It is more than progress; it is transmutation.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
