Literary notes about impossible (AI summary)
Throughout literature, "impossible" functions as a multifaceted tool that both delineates tangible limitations and evokes profound emotional or philosophical quandaries. Authors employ the term to convey barriers that range from physical impasses—such as obstructed passage or overwhelming circumstances ([1], [2])—to internal impasses, like feelings too intense to sustain former ways of living ([3]) or the inherent contradictions within human nature ([4]). Its use frequently marks turning points in narratives, whether underscoring the futility of resisting fate ([5]), the absurdity of an inevitable act ([6]), or challenging conventional wisdom about what can truly be accomplished ([7]). In this way, "impossible" not only anchors the realism of a setting but also enhances the dramatic tension and thematic depth of the literary work ([8], [9]).
- The road was so obstructed with carts that it was impossible to get by in a carriage.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - It is as defensible upon its front as Vicksburg and, at that time, would have been just as impossible to capture by a front attack.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. Grant - I After Prince Andrew’s engagement to Natásha, Pierre without any apparent cause suddenly felt it impossible to go on living as before.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - But such a perception—such an experience is impossible; because it has no content.
— from The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant - 375 To be content with little is difficult; to be content with much—impossible.
— from Life and LiteratureOver two thousand extracts from ancient and modern writers,and classified in alphabetical order by John Purver Richardson - But that was most impossible of all: if I feel impelled to do anything, I seem to be pitchforked into it.
— from Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Consequently, an absolute cosmical limit is empirically, and therefore absolutely, impossible.
— from The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant - Outside of that it was impossible to think.
— from Martin Eden by Jack London - you shall see, gentlemen, that I, in my turn, can say: It is impossible.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
