Literary notes about abomination (AI summary)
The word “abomination” in literature is frequently deployed as a potent term to denote moral, aesthetic, or social repugnance. Authors have used it to condemn both human perversity and jarring breaches of accepted norms. For instance, H. G. Wells employs the term to convey a deep-seated emotional void in the face of cruelty ([1], [2]), while etiquette manuals and political tracts use it to vilify practices and behaviors deemed improper or offensive ([3], [4], [5], [6]). Meanwhile, writers like Stephen Crane extend its reach to the mundane—the clock in his narrative is resigned to being an “abomination” ([7])—and religious texts invoke it to underscore transgressions against divine order ([8], [9], [10]). In each case, “abomination” serves as a charged marker of deviation from what is considered proper or sacred, reflecting its versatile role as a critical tool in literary expression.
- So indurated was I at that time to the abomination of the place, that I heard without a touch of emotion the puma victim begin another day of torture.
— from The island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells - “But,” said I, “the thing is an abomination—” “To this day I have never troubled about the ethics of the matter,” he continued.
— from The island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells - They are economical, and as all economy is an abomination, must be avoided.
— from The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness by Cecil B. Hartley - The born gentleman avoids the mention of names exactly as he avoids the mention of what things cost; both are an abomination to his soul.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post - Padded shoulders are an abomination.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post - "As to politics," said he, "at this time they are my abomination: the ministers of kings and princes are as great scoundrels as ever lived.
— from The Life of Horatio, Lord Nelson by Robert Southey - A clock, in a splintered and battered oblong box of varnished wood, she suddenly regarded as an abomination.
— from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane - Thus the Lord made that pleasant refreshing, which another time would have been an abomination.
— from Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson by Mary White Rowlandson - But at last I began to consider that that which is highly esteemed among men is had in abomination with God.
— from The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan Every Child Can Read by John Bunyan - Concerning the abomination of the sacred rites of the Great Mother .
— from The City of God, Volume I by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine
