Literary notes about imaginary (AI summary)
The use of "imaginary" in literature spans a vast territory—from the realm of playful human invention to serious philosophical inquiry. In some works, the term functions as a marker for hypothetical scenarios or fixed constructs that exist solely in the mind. For instance, authors employ "imaginary" to denote cases introduced for argument’s sake ([1], [2], [3]) or even to propose idealized alternatives to existing societal norms ([4], [5], [6]). At the same time, it designates the non-real or fantastical, as seen in portrayals of inner worlds populated by imagined friends ([7]) or the poetic creation of borders defined by "imaginary lines" ([8]). Whether evoking creative imagery, questioning the nature of reality, or engaging in critical social commentary, "imaginary" remains a versatile device that invites readers to ponder the interplay between fact, fiction, and idealization.
- I am only putting an imaginary case.
— from An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde - Do you comprehend the imaginary case?” “Quite.”
— from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - We may illustrate this by an imaginary extreme case.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick - You would rob it of its simplicity by imaginary improvement!
— from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - I am no visionary; I desire no prince, I seek no Telemachus, I know he is only an imaginary person; I seek some one like him.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - They gain an imaginary distinctness when embodied in a State or in a system of philosophy, but they still remain the visions of 'a world unrealized.'
— from The Republic by Plato - Long, quiet days she spent, not lonely nor idle, for her little world was peopled with imaginary friends, and she was by nature a busy bee.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott - Several of the Lakes in the north of England are let out to different Fishermen, in parcels marked out by imaginary lines drawn from rock to rock.
— from Lyrical Ballads, With a Few Other Poems (1798) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth
