Literary notes about problematic (AI summary)
In literature, "problematic" serves as a versatile term, used not only to indicate uncertainty or ambiguity but also to highlight situations, characters, or ideas that resist easy categorization or resolution. It may denote situations imbued with inherent contradictions or challenges, as when a narrative’s unfolding or a character’s fate remains uncertain [1], or when a societal or political condition defies simple explanation [2]. At times, authors deploy the term to underscore the elusive quality of abstract ideals or magical forces, imbuing them with an enigmatic power [3], [4]. Moreover, "problematic" often characterizes relationships and personal dynamics, suggesting complexities that render interactions or outcomes both unpredictable and debatable [5], [6]. Thus, across a range of contexts—from philosophical discourse to vivid narrative description—the word encapsulates the essence of conflict, instability, and the multifaceted nature of human experience [7], [8].
- What her future is going to be is still problematic.
— from The Lost Fruits of Waterloo by John Spencer Bassett - State [E] must be termed more than problematic, since Belgium claims the right to cede or sell it to a non-neutral country.
— from Germany and the Next War by Friedrich von Bernhardi - Barry Pain’s Exchange might be given as another example of problematic magic that owes its power to elusive mystery.
— from The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction by Dorothy Scarborough - Conceptions of abstract, of universal, and of problematic objects, 240.
— from Psychology: Briefer Course by William James - "Your compliments are rather equivocal, Mr. Morgan, I do not know that I should like such problematic praises."
— from The Younger Sister: A Novel, Volumes 1-3 by Mrs. (Catherine-Anne Austen) Hubback - The reading over, it appeared problematic whether he would depart with his anger unexpressed, or whether he would give it vent.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - Thought must be reserved for the new, the precarious, the problematic.
— from How We Think by John Dewey - What rendered problematic for Bloom the realisation of these mutually selfexcluding propositions?
— from Ulysses by James Joyce
