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Literary notes about crazy (AI summary)

The term “crazy” in literature is remarkably flexible, acting as a descriptor for everything from a character’s genuine descent into madness to a humorous or ironic embellishment of human temperament. Its usage ranges from a marker of eccentricity or unfathomable emotional turmoil—as when a character is overcome by grief or passion [1, 2]—to a subtle indictment of irrational behavior or societal absurdity [3, 4]. At times, “crazy” conveys an element of wild enthusiasm or frenetic energy, whether it is applied to a person intensely obsessed with something [5, 6] or to settings that seem to defy normal order [7, 8]. Even within satirical or comic contexts, the word underscores the tension between conventional rationality and unpredictable human impulses, enriching the narrative with both critical insight and playful exaggeration [9, 10, 11].
  1. She dropped on the floor beside her crazy son, hid her face on her knees, and sat crying bitterly.
    — from My Ántonia by Willa Cather
  2. The poor soul was still at the bedside, where Rebecca had left her, and stood almost crazy with grief.
    — from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
  3. What is it, they ask, but barefaced crazy unreason, the negation of intelligibility and law?
    — from The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by William James
  4. What is at the root of all you Karamazovs is that you're all sensual, grasping and crazy!
    — from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  5. "Why, you see, Jo is crazy about horses and so am I, but we've only got an old sidesaddle and no horse.
    — from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
  6. My sister's just crazy about you and I like you too.
    — from Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
  7. Stark calm on the lap of the Line—or the crazy-eyed hurricane blowing?
    — from Kim by Rudyard Kipling
  8. It is as if the whole world had gone crazy.”
    — from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy
  9. Barney Bodkin broke his nose, Without feet we can't have toes; Crazy folks are always mad, Want of money makes us sad.
    — from The Nursery Rhymes of England
  10. "Crazy, that's what he is—crazy!" he sputtered as he arose from the sidewalk and hurried away.
    — from Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life by Sherwood Anderson
  11. "It's a farce—a crazy farce," he repeated, his eyes fixed on the long vista of the room reflected in the blotched glass between the windows.
    — from The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

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