Literary notes about handwriting (AI summary)
In literary works, “handwriting” often serves as a multifaceted symbol—both a literal indicator of personal identity and a metaphor for the character’s inner state. Authors like Twain ([1], [2]) and Dostoyevsky ([3], [4], [5]) use it to evoke authenticity or to highlight the meticulous, sometimes troubled nature of a character’s expression. Meanwhile, figures such as Chekhov ([6], [7], [8], [9]) and Dumas ([10], [11], [12]) illustrate how the nuances of handwriting—from its bold flourishes to its erratic slants—can reveal emotions or suggest haste, distress, and personality. At the same time, handwriting is instrumental in forensic or evidentiary contexts, as seen in the works of Hawthorne ([13]) and Sherlock Holmes ([14]), further underscoring its role as a bridge between personal expression and broader social and historical identity ([15], [16], [17]).
- “Why I know their handwriting as well as I know my own—have had correspondence enough with them, I should think.
— from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner - You know it is the handwriting.
— from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner - At last he opened it; it was a thick heavy letter, weighing over two ounces, two large sheets of note paper were covered with very small handwriting.
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The handwriting was his wife's; it was addressed to Yevgeny Nikolaitch, and dated August the fourth.
— from Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The paper was closely covered with bad handwriting, with corrections in every line.
— from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - All this was written in a large, nervous handwriting with blots and smudges, and it was evident that she wrote in haste and distress.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - she said, deciphering with difficulty her ugly handwriting.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - Besides, there’s nothing in handwriting!
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - In front of his bowed head there lay on the table a sheet of paper on which there was something written in fine handwriting.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - Fortunately, for me, the handwriting was disguised.”
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - He uttered an exclamation of delight, for the large handwriting of Porthos was discernible, and underneath some lines traced by his worthy spouse.
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - This letter was in Milady’s handwriting; only this time it was addressed to M. d’Artagnan, and not to M. de Wardes.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - "This is your own handwriting, Mr. Peter, the same as in the letter you sent me from Mexico."
— from Twice-told tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne - “It is a curious thing,” remarked Holmes, “that a typewriter has really quite as much individuality as a man’s handwriting.
— from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - in More’s handwriting.
— from Utopia by Saint Thomas More - You recognise the handwriting?” “Yes, it is Mrs. Inglethorp’s.
— from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie - They were the instructions of the naval minister to Commander La Perouse, annotated in the margin in Louis XVI's handwriting.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne
