Literary notes about swindle (AI summary)
The term swindle in literature is employed as a versatile metaphor for deception, fraud, and moral treachery. Authors use it to capture everything from the playful, minor trickery of personal interactions to elaborate schemes that symbolize systemic corruption. In some works, it is depicted as a cunning con—a deceit akin to a card sharp’s trick or a coffin treated as an object of peculiarity [1], [2]—while in others it serves as a denunciation of grand political or financial deceptions, as seen in narratives critiquing high-level fraud or social injustices [3], [4]. Across various texts, it emerges not only as a term for outright cheating but also as a critical comment on the underhanded practices that undermine trust in both intimate and public spheres [5], [6].
- Le —— , or vol au suif , variety of card-sharping swindle .
— from Argot and Slang A New French and English Dictionary of the Cant Words, Quaint Expressions, Slang Terms and Flash Phrases Used in the High and Low Life of Old and New Paris by Albert Barrère - I must go in and have another glance at that singular swindle of a coffin.
— from Hugo: A Fantasia on Modern Themes by Arnold Bennett - Who has not heard of the Credit Mobilier swindle, in which high government officers, Senators and Representatives, were implicated?
— from Lives of Distinguished North Carolinians, with Illustrations and Speeches - It is feared that the University swindle is stronger to-day than it has ever been before.”
— from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner - In another brief moment, payment having been tendered and accepted, Fitzflam was in the boxes, ready to expose the swindle and the swindler!
— from Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie - "Verily, he is a scheming man, who will swindle you out of the eight hundred pounds when you have secured it."
— from A Century Too Soon: The Age of Tyranny by John R. (John Roy) Musick
