Literary notes about stolidity (AI summary)
Writers often employ "stolidity" to describe a character’s unyielding, impassive demeanor—a reserve that can either convey inner strength or conceal deeper turmoil. In some texts, it is used to highlight a deliberate coolness that borders on emotional detachment, as seen when a character maintains an unmoved facial expression or a rigid pose that both repels and subtly communicates various undercurrents ([1], [2], [3]). Other portrayals reveal how such unresponsive calm can mask vulnerability or even a nearly absurd level of intransigence, encouraging the reader to wonder if this stiffness is born of despair or a cultivated apathy ([4], [5], [6]). This multifaceted usage appears across literary works, where stolidity occasionally is set in stark contrast with passion or wit, allowing authors to explore themes of resilience, detachment, and the sometimes deceptive nature of outward behavior ([7], [8], [9]).
- The natural stolidity of Bob Pilings face was only just proof against this speech.
— from Complete Project Gutenberg John Galsworthy Works by John Galsworthy - The auctioneer noticed him standing almost directly under his nose, and was impressed with the stolidity—solidity—of the boy's expression.
— from The Financier: A Novel by Theodore Dreiser - She slid a look at him which might have meant nothing or meant much, so perfect its shy stolidity.
— from Fraternity by John Galsworthy - For the first time in his life his stolidity gave way to something resembling exhilaration.
— from The Man from Brodney's by George Barr McCutcheon - At last, with the stolidity that is born of despair, “Finished!”
— from Two Women or One? From the Mss. of Dr. Leonard Benary by Henry Harland - Whatever in his nature had been unreliable became treacherous; his stolidity became sullenness.
— from The Dark Star by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers - Syme received the remark with stolidity, imagining it to be a joke.
— from The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G. K. Chesterton - After a time she left rattling avenues and passed between rows of houses with sternness and stolidity stamped upon their features.
— from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane - ‘What seems a cruel thing?’ inquired Ralph, with as much stolidity of face, as if he really were in utter ignorance of the other’s meaning.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
