Literary notes about mishap (AI summary)
The word "mishap" in literature often denotes an unforeseen accident or setback, serving as a narrative device that ranges from the inconsequential to the pivotal. In some contexts, it marks a minor incident that spares characters from greater calamity—illustrated by safe travels despite potential disaster [1, 2]—while in others it heralds life-altering events that redirect the course of a story, often with a touch of irony or bittersweet humor [3, 4, 5]. Moreover, authors imbue the term with both the weight of mythic tragedy and the levity of everyday error, suggesting that even heroic journeys or grand ambitions can be subtly undermined by chance misfortunes [6, 7, 8].
- His threat had the desired effect, and we reached the landing without mishap.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - The helmsman was a man of great nerve, and the gale being steady I felt we would reach Corfu without mishap.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - Her mishap makes her all the dearer to me.”
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - " That settled it, and telling him of Meg's mishap, Jo gratefully accepted and rushed up to bring down the rest of the party.
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - It never hurt him, however, and Dorothy would pick him up and set him upon his feet again, while he joined her in laughing merrily at his own mishap.
— from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum - Hapless, Aegeon, whom the fates have mark'd To bear the extremity of dire mishap!
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - After our mishap at Mannheim, my uncle and I made for the Duchy of X—-.
— from Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray - That direful mishap was at the bottom of his temporary recluseness.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville
