Literary notes about prevaricate (AI summary)
The term "prevaricate" has been employed in literature to characterize a deliberate evasion of truth or an act of indirectness. For instance, in E. M. Forster’s passage, a character "prevaricates" by muttering a vague comment about a nervous breakdown, suggesting a subtle avoidance of full disclosure in the face of an uncomfortable truth [1]. Similarly, Dostoyevsky’s narrative admonishes against such behavior by advising readers to refrain from prevaricating, framing it as an unhelpful stratagem when paired with cunning [2]. Homer, in The Odyssey, uses the term to underscore an ethical commitment to honesty over deception, as a speaker decisively declares that he will neither prevaricate nor deceive [3]. Together, these examples illustrate how "prevaricate" serves as a literary device to examine the consequences and moral implications of evasive speech.
- Thinking it professional to prevaricate, he murmured something about a nervous breakdown.
— from Howards End by E. M. Forster - Be so good as not to prevaricate; it won’t help you to be cunning.
— from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - As regards your question, however, I will not prevaricate nor deceive you, but what the old man of the sea told me, so much will I tell you in full.
— from The Odyssey by Homer
