Literary notes about fluctuation (AI summary)
The word "fluctuation" appears in literature as a versatile term, used to capture the idea of variability in various contexts. In some works, such as in [1] and [2], it describes measurable changes—a slight fluctuation in price or temperature—that underscore practical concerns in everyday life and commerce. In contrast, authors like Joyce in [3] employ the term more abstractly to explore the shifting nature of emotional or sensory experiences, suggesting that even attraction can vary in intensity. Meanwhile, figures like Irving in [4] and Santayana in [5] use "fluctuation" metaphorically, applying it to language and human nature to express the intrinsic instability in our thoughts and societal constructs. The term also finds its place in historical and economic commentary, as seen in [6] and [7] where the fluctuation of credit underpins financial uncertainty, and in [8] and [9] where it captures the cyclical change of natural phenomena. This diverse employment of "fluctuation" across genres and subjects emphasizes its rich capacity to convey both tangible and ephemeral shifts within the world.
- It continued at this price, with some slight fluctuation, until the company closed their books on the 22d of June.
— from Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay - The urns provided with water jackets keep the brew at almost a constant temperature and avoid the deterioration incident to temperature fluctuation.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - Because the controlled contemplation of the fluctuation of attraction produced, if desired, a fluctuation of pleasure. Abnegation?
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - I fear the mere fluctuation of language will not be sufficient.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving - Thus human nature survives amid a continual fluctuation of its embodiments.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - "What do you understand by the fluctuation of credit?" Potchatkin began explaining, but Laptev could make nothing of it, and sent for Makeitchev.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - What is our position?" "It all depends upon the fluctuation of credit," Potchatkin answered after a moment's pause.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - It is remarkable that this fluctuation, whether periodical or not, appears thus to require many years for its accomplishment.
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau - By this fluctuation the pond asserts its title to a shore, and thus the shore is shorn , and the trees cannot hold it by right of possession.
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau