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Literary notes about fluster (AI summary)

The term "fluster" has often been employed to evoke a state of hurried agitation or disarray, revealing the intricacies of human emotion in literature. In some works, such as in [1] and [2], characters explicitly reject disturbance yet inadvertently fall into a disorganized state, while Twain’s humorous narration in [3] captures the comedic side of being overwhelmed. Russian writers like Dostoyevsky and Chekhov repeatedly use "fluster" to mark moments of intense nervousness or confusion, as seen in [4], [5], and [6], underscoring the subtle interplay between self-possession and loss thereof in crises. Even in satirical contexts, like Rabelais’s playful twist in [7], the word serves to highlight both the absurdity and fragility of human conduct, making it a versatile descriptor that spans from earnest agitation to comically exaggerated bewilderment ([8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14]).
  1. no screaming,—happens beautiful,—I like to do everything quietly,—I hates all kind of agitation and fluster.”
    — from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
  2. But I have been, and am, in a strange fluster; and I suppose too, she'll say, I have been full pert.
    — from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson
  3. Why, they’d steal the very—why, goodness sakes, you can guess what kind of a fluster I was in by the time midnight come last night.
    — from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  4. The gentleman in raccoon rummaged in a fluster.
    — from Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  5. “Take down the ikon,” Peplov whispered in a fluster, pale with excitement, and buttoning his coat as he prodded his wife with his elbow.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  6. Axinya asked softly, in a fluster, holding her breath; "and where is your cap, my dear?
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  7. A pox on that wind-broker Aeolus, with his fluster-blusters.
    — from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
  8. From their fluster and the broken phrases they uttered it was apparent they foresaw some trouble.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  9. But probably feeling himself that his fluster with the money made him look even more foolish, he lost the last traces of self-possession.
    — from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  10. “Since that is how it is, lay the supper quickly,” Pavel Vassilitch cries in a fluster.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  11. "No, what Shabrin?" answered the gentleman in raccoon, in a fluster.
    — from Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  12. I spoke foolishly," cried Ivan Andreyitch in a fluster.
    — from Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  13. aturdir i fluster, perturb, stupefy; —do inconsiderate.
    — from Doña Perfecta by Benito Pérez Galdós
  14. The gentleman was in a fluster.
    — from Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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