Literary notes about recurrence (AI summary)
In literature, recurrence is portrayed as both a physical and philosophical phenomenon that underscores the return of events, states, and ideas. It is used to denote the literal reappearance of incidents—ranging from the return of illnesses and quarrels ([1], [2], [3]) to the periodic cycles of nature and time ([4], [5])—while also conveying profound philosophical meditations such as Nietzsche’s concept of eternal recurrence ([6], [7], [8], [9]). This dual usage bridges the tangible and the abstract, suggesting that what recurs, whether in the rhythms of everyday life or in the depths of existential reflection, carries with it an inevitable and sometimes inescapable quality that challenges linear perceptions of time and progress ([10], [11], [12]).
- The parliamentary session was resumed on February 1, but the course of events was complicated by a recurrence of the king's malady.
— from The Political History of England - Vol XI From Addington's Administration to the close of William IV.'s Reign (1801-1837) by John Knight Fotheringham - He had afterward a recurrence of the malady, which continued seven days.
— from The Night-Side of Nature; Or, Ghosts and Ghost-Seers by Catherine Crowe - It's a recurrence of your heart trouble and it'll pass over like the other times."
— from The Trial by Franz Kafka - (13.)—ON THE RECURRENCE OF THE ECLIPSES OF THE SUN AND THE MOON.
— from The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny - The divisions into days, weeks, months, years, etc., correspond to the periodical recurrence of rites, feasts, and public ceremonies.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim - This is a final paean which Zarathustra sings to Eternity and the marriage-ring of rings, the ring of the Eternal Recurrence.
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - The principle of the conservation of energy inevitably involves eternal recurrence.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Nietzsche - *** How could such a man think of Eternal Recurrence?
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Nietzsche - In the place of "metaphysics" and religion, the doctrine of Eternal Recurrence (this being regarded as a means to the breeding and selection of men).
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Nietzsche - When Jos heard that dreadful sound, he made up his mind that he would bear this perpetual recurrence of terrors no longer, and would fly at once.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - No memory is involved in the mere fact of recurrence.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James - We attribute independence to things in order to normalise their recurrence.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
