Literary notes about Uncertainty (AI summary)
Writers employ the term "uncertainty" in a variety of nuanced ways that enrich their narratives and underscore complex themes. In historical and geographical texts, it conveys a sense of unresolved mystery and the unknown—the precarious positions of nations or the uncharted regions of the world are highlighted, for instance, in contexts discussing locations and political decisions [1, 2]. In the realm of fiction, uncertainty often becomes an emotional or psychological state, intensifying the inner turmoil of characters as they face personal dilemmas or romantic doubts [3, 4, 5]. Philosophers and theorists, meanwhile, use the term to question the very foundations of knowledge and existence, illustrating the tension between what is known and what remains indefinable [6, 7]. Thus, across genres, "uncertainty" functions both as a literal descriptor of external vagueness and a metaphor for deep internal conflict [8, 9, 10].
- In geographical literature complete uncertainty in regard to Bering's island St. Elias and its situation off the American coast still prevails.
— from Vitus Bering: the Discoverer of Bering Strait by Peter Lauridsen - That is why American business is upset every few years by unnecessary tariff upheavals and is weakened by uncertainty in the periods between.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein - My uncertainty in the four days which she had wisely left me convinced me that I was not in love with her.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - She did not quite remember what it was that she had been afraid to meet, but the uncertainty no longer troubled her.
— from The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton - But she always began again, thrusting him off, into the deep water, into the frenzy and agony of uncertainty.
— from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence - This is, however, only a part of the truth concerning the uncertainty of philosophy.
— from The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell - And how far it is possible to push these philosophical principles of doubt and uncertainty?
— from An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume - Flaunt it as we choose, athwart and over the roads of our progress loom huge uncertainty, and dreadful, threatening gloom.
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - “In myself alone and in that sunshine there is so much happiness; but here... groans, suffering, fear, and this uncertainty and hurry...
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - The world might be a welter of uncertainty, but he was himself now.
— from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence
