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.