Literary notes about unforeseen (AI summary)
The term unforeseen is often used to evoke the sudden interruptions or unpredicted events that dramatically alter a narrative’s course. Authors employ it both in literal and figurative senses—Jules Verne, for instance, uses it to justify abrupt changes in travel or confinement ([1], [2]), while historical works describe unforeseen accidents that shift the broader tides of events ([3], [4]). In psychological and emotional contexts, writers invoke the term to capture those unanticipated moments of insight or despair, as seen in the discussions of sudden revelations or inexplicable personal blows ([5], [6]). Across diverse genres, unforeseen underlines the precarious nature of plans and the inevitable surprises that punctuate human experience ([7], [8]).
- It's possible that certain unforeseen events may force me to confine you to your cabins for some hours, or even for some days as the case may be.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - "Twenty thousand pounds, which you would lose by a single accidental delay!" "The unforeseen does not exist," quietly replied Phileas Fogg.
— from Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne - Alas! the two papers were indiscriminately consumed, and this unforeseen accident produced the union of a day, and renewed the quarrel of an age.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - The immediate supplies had been exhausted by the unforeseen necessity of military preparations.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - Galton, using a very simple apparatus, found that the sight of an unforeseen word would awaken an associated 'idea' in about 5/6 of a second.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James - “And that unforeseen circumstance, of course, is myself,” Fyodor Pavlovitch cut in immediately.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - I was far from thinking that the effect of a feeling could be at once so sudden and so unforeseen.
— from On Love by Stendhal - In the absence of the legislature, the Governor is bound to take all necessary steps to guard the State against violent shocks and unforeseen dangers.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville
