Literary notes about irrelevant (AI summary)
In literature “irrelevant” often functions as a critical marker distinguishing between what contributes meaningfully and what detracts from the main narrative or argument. Authors use it to dismiss digressions or details that, by their very nature, fail to advance the central themes—be it in a character’s dialogue, as hinted when a clergyman casually dismisses a discussion as off-topic ([1], [2]), or in reflective prose, where superfluous ideas are set aside in favor of a more focused inquiry ([3], [4]). In both narrative fiction and philosophical discourse, the term underscores a tension between the necessary and the extraneous, as seen when minor, distracting details are portrayed as obstacles to clarity ([5], [6]) or when they illuminate a character’s inner disarray ([7], [8]). This multifaceted employment illustrates how “irrelevant” is not only a descriptor but also a device to maintain the integrity and direction of literary exploration.
- “It may be so,” said the young clergyman, indifferently, as waiving a discussion that he considered irrelevant or unseasonable.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - "It may be so," said the young clergyman, indifferently, as waiving a discussion that he considered irrelevant or unseasonable.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - This, however, would be an irrelevant retort, since, if the principle were true, I could not know that any one else is acquainted with him.
— from The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell - It would, therefore, be irrelevant and out of place to examine here, whether the doctrine of Tyrannicide deserves that title.
— from On Liberty by John Stuart Mill - Not that I have ventured to strike out all such interjections; I have removed only those which were obviously irrelevant; w
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain - She hurried the prince along, but interrupted him with all sorts of questions, nearly all of which were irrelevant.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Clare performed the irrelevant act of stirring the fire; the intelligence had not even yet got to the bottom of him.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy - His face worked, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he suddenly laughed an unprovoked and irrelevant laugh.
— from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
