Literary notes about invalid (AI summary)
The term “invalid” serves a dual purpose in literature, functioning both as a descriptor for those afflicted by illness and as a marker for something deemed legally or formally null. In narratives by Dostoyevsky, Brontë, and Ibsen, the word often designates characters whose frailties or chronic conditions shape their existence and the dynamics of those around them ([1], [2], [3]). Meanwhile, writers like Gibbon use “invalid” in a legal or formal sense to denote acts or documents that lack legitimacy ([4]). This multifaceted use enriches the text, allowing authors to explore themes of vulnerability, dependency, and societal critique simultaneously.
- “Yes, sir; I remember you now,” said the invalid holding out his burning, feverish hand.
— from Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie - And she would soon have wearied of nursing an invalid like me.
— from Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen - But it was dark there, and she could only hear the invalid beginning to gasp and struggle.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The legal acts performed in his name, even the manumission of slaves, were declared invalid, till they had been formally repeated.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
