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Literary notes about unbelief (AI summary)

The term "unbelief" has been deployed by many authors to express not only a lack of religious faith but also a broader state of doubt and disillusionment in human nature. In Dante’s work, for instance, "unbelief" manifests in a literal city—the City of Unbelief—symbolizing a spiritual void and separation from divine truth ([1], [2], [3]). In contrast, other writers use the term to denote personal and societal shortcomings; for example, Emerson and Carlyle equate unbelief with self-doubt and moral degradation ([4], [5], [6]), while Nietzsche criticizes it as an ideologically charged rejection of established authority ([7], [8], [9]). Even in literature aiming for emotional or existential commentary, unbelief is depicted as both a source of personal torment and a societal malaise, such as when it leads characters to tragedy or introspection in works by Joyce and Dostoyevsky ([10], [11]). This multifaceted usage reflects the term’s evolution—from its allegorical religious origins to broader philosophical treatises on human nature and social order.
  1. That this is the city of unbelief he has not yet been told, and without knowing it he is standing under the very walls of Doubting Castle.
    — from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
  2. It is because all his thoughts were worldly that he is condemned to the city of unbelief.
    — from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
  3. first time that Dis is the city of unbelief.
    — from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
  4. " Carlyle says: "The fearful unbelief is unbelief in yourself."
    — from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  5. It is the last consummation of unbelief.
    — from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle
  6. " Carlyle says: "The fearful unbelief is unbelief in yourself."
    — from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  7. It was unbelief in “superior men,” a Nay flung at everything that priests and theologians stood for.
    — from The Antichrist by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
  8. At the same time unbelief: Reduction.
    — from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Nietzsche
  9. The inability to believe in a sense becomes "unbelief."
    — from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Nietzsche
  10. I believe, O Lord, help my unbelief.
    — from Ulysses by James Joyce
  11. “I am bound to show my unbelief,” said Kirillov, walking about the room.
    — from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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