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Literary notes about scribble (AI summary)

The term "scribble" in literature conveys a sense of informal, hurried, or unpolished writing that often underscores spontaneity, creative impulse, or even emotional outburst. In Dickens’ work, for instance, scribbling represents a casual act of jotting down thoughts meant to please or inform others ([1], [2]), while for Alcott, it reflects the ongoing, unstructured process of note-taking and sketching ([3]). In works like Dostoyevsky’s and Doyle’s, the act of scribbling provides a direct, almost urgent channel for conveying critical information or personal messages ([4], [5]). Meanwhile, in the context of letters and personal communication seen in Richardson’s and Drouet’s writings, scribbles evoke the raw, sincere emotion of the writer, sometimes even tinged with the influence of passion or distress ([6], [7], [8], [9]). Across these examples, whether describing ephemeral sketches on palimpsests or impromptu notes during court recesses, "scribble" encapsulates a transient yet authentic moment of literary creation ([10], [11]).
  1. ‘But I dare say I could scribble something now and then, that would suit you.’
    — from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
  2. He could not wait for the midday recess, but seized a moment's leisure in court to scribble his telegram to Gerty Farish.
    — from The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
  3. I never can, so I'll only give you bits out of my note-book, for I've done nothing but sketch and scribble since I started.
    — from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott
  4. Take the pen and scribble ‘Raskolnikov’ for him.
    — from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  5. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, and I knew that he was writing me a note.
    — from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
  6. But I hope I shall bring my next scribble myself; and so conclude, though half broken-hearted, Your ever dutiful DAUGHTER.
    — from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson
  7. Forgive this scribble; it looks absurd now, and indeed it must needs be so, for I was inebriated with love when I wrote it.
    — from Juliette Drouet's Love-Letters to Victor Hugo by Juliette Drouet and Louis Guimbaud
  8. And I will write on as things happen, that if a way should open, my scribble may be ready to be sent: For what I do, must be at a jerk, to be sure.
    — from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson
  9. I will every day, however, write my sad state; and some way, perhaps, may be opened to send the melancholy scribble to you.
    — from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson
  10. But the talkative worry one's ears to death with their tautologies, as people scribble the same things over and over again on palimpsests.
    — from Plutarch's Morals by Plutarch
  11. He began to scribble on a slip of paper.
    — from Ulysses by James Joyce

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