Literary notes about bombshell (AI summary)
In literature, the term "bombshell" is often used to signify a sudden, explosive revelation or occurrence that disrupts the status quo. Writers employ it both figuratively and sometimes literally to evoke an immediate sense of shock or change. It can describe the impact of startling words or unexpected news that leaves characters reeling, as when a revelation causes dismay or astonishment [1, 2, 3]. Additionally, the word is applied to moments when dramatic information or events burst into a narrative, altering relationships or societal norms, much like the way an actual explosive disrupts its surroundings [4, 5, 6]. This versatile metaphor thus serves as a powerful tool to instill tension and highlight turning points within a story.
- The verbal bombshell that Air Marshal Manners had suddenly exploded was still scrambling his brains.
— from Dave Dawson on Convoy Patrol by Robert Sidney Bowen - The colonel remained silent, waiting for the bombshell.
— from Border, Breed Nor Birth by Mack Reynolds - He might have dropped a bombshell amongst them with less effect.
— from Jacob's Ladder by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim - Lyell had been threatening to publish a book on the geological history of Man, which was to be a bombshell flung into the camp of the catastrophists.
— from Father and Son: A Study of Two Temperaments by Edmund Gosse - The end of the eighteenth century was, too, a time of optimism and of dismal mediocrity in which the French Revolution exploded like a bombshell.
— from Notes on Life & Letters by Joseph Conrad - The word had fallen like a bombshell in the pure and tranquil atmosphere of the Archer dining-room.
— from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
