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Literary notes about unremarkable (AI summary)

The term "unremarkable" in literature often conveys a sense of ordinary, mundane, or unexceptional qualities, whether describing a person's appearance, a building’s detail, or even the overall flow of life. Authors use it to emphasize the inherent normalcy of a subject, as when a character or object is depicted as blending into the background of common experience ([1], [2], [3]). At times, the word is deployed with a touch of irony or unexpected depth, such as when noting that seemingly minor details are laden with peculiar intensity ([4]), or when contrasting an unremarkable exterior with a striking inner quality ([5], [6]). This dual use both underscores the simplicity of everyday life and sometimes hints at a hidden significance within the mundane ([7], [8]).
  1. But as it was, she gave no thought to her appearance, and looked unremarkable and ordinary and lower middle-class.
    — from The Career of Katherine Bush by Elinor Glyn
  2. In itself the house is unremarkable; a dull, brown rectangle with a faintly mildewed air about the cornices.
    — from Our Square and the People in It by Samuel Hopkins Adams
  3. She was a thoroughly unremarkable looking girl, but had a certain willowy grace about her, and could put herself into graceful poses.
    — from Turquoise and Ruby by L. T. Meade
  4. These details, unremarkable in themselves, were charged with a peculiar intensity.
    — from Wild Oranges by Joseph Hergesheimer
  5. How could he ever have dignified this remarkably unremarkable little man with his pompous manner into a mysterious and possibly hostile force.
    — from Who? by Elizabeth Kent
  6. But as he moved deliberately by, his faded eyes took in every detail of Henry's not unremarkable personal appearance.
    — from Henry Is Twenty: A Further Episodic History of Henry Calverly, 3rd by Samuel Merwin
  7. The landscape seen from the moving bus was unremarkable but still the beauty that was there dazed him into self-reflections.
    — from Tokyo to Tijuana: Gabriele Departing America by Steven David Justin Sills
  8. And so all things went on serenely, and the years went by, gentle, unremarkable, tranquil years.
    — from Hester: A Story of Contemporary Life, Volume 1 (of 3) by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

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