19th Century Literature discussion
Language of the 19th Century
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I've seen brain fever come up in 19th-century literature, and it always seems to be preceded by a moral crisis of some kind.I thought perhaps the authors were using this as a literary device, but it seems they took brain fever for granted. Whether they thought a mental state could induce a fever, I can't figure out. But they all must have seen how people with fevers can become delirious at some point, then gotten cause and effect mixed up.
Either way, the expression brain fever strikes modern readers as a curiosity. It certainly gives 19th-century literature a distinctive flavor.
What I notice about language preciding the 20th century (19th and 18th) is that rather than describing, writers would often use choice words. "Unremitting" instead of never giving up, "antoned" instead of tried to be forgiven, etc. etc.. I also notice quality nouns we seldom use like "Contritness", "Commendation", "Propensities". It's very "german" to use nouns like this -the language relies on important nouns, around which the sentence revolves.
That's an interesting point about the emphasis on nouns. And for the adjectives like "unremitting," of course after the 19th century writers shifted to simpler words that have more Germanic roots: not-give-up.Recently, on another note, I've noticed how the word disturbance is used in 19th century literature to refer to sexual arousal.
LOL. How deliciously unspecific. I have described to german friends how we currently use the word "excited" to mean aroused.I have read in "House of Mirth" at a clearly sexual scene, " his volubility", "his unsual exitability", "he was heated" in a scene between Wharton's Lily Bart and her debtor Trenor, but the lanaguage is always has a double-quality. You can tell Trenors aroused, but these adjectives could also be construed as "heated from talking", "volubility from drinking", etc... . "Disturbed" suggests arousal without "knowing" you're aroused. I love how these leave you room to argue the other side or simply ignore the implication.
Have you heard of when a woman has her "lying in" or "sitting in" or "confinement" - which is when she was supposed to lie around and wait for her baby to be born. Keep in mind - this is not labor, it meant a few months, in king Henry XIIIs time, and even in the 1930's it could be anywhere from two weeks to two months!!
"..mighty white of you to..." Recalled from The Virginian, perhaps?
A usage not entirely unknown in the 20th & 21st centuries but when did it first appear in English? From?
Dear Lord! I do believe Miss Katherine has come down with a case of the "vapours"! Run & fetch me my salts, girl!PS: ..."who.." surely "whom"..., no?
Of course, it might not have been the vapours at all, nor a "falling off" nor any disturbance. It might have been (drumroll) ...The Aether
That's the hypothetical medium specific to a 19th-century understanding of disease vectors and unseen phenomena. It was especially popular before doctors began thinking that physical contact, and not the air, spread most disease.
But then, physical contact might bring us back to an appalling discussion of "volubility."
Michaela wrote: "Have you heard of when a woman has her "lying in" or "sitting in" or "confinement" - which is when she was supposed to lie around and wait for her baby to be born. Keep in mind - this is not labor, it meant a few months, in king Henry XIIIs time, and even in the 1930's it could be anywhere from two weeks to two months!!"Yes, I've seen that appear in a few books and also noticed it a lot in that movie, "The Other Boleyn Girl" (starring Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman). Compared to now it seems like a huge luxury, when you think of modern women who typically work all the way to the end before they go on mat leave.
The people of that century seem to have their own vocabulary and set of expressions that we no longer use. For example, in many books I've read, a person's argument doesn't "collapse" or "give way" under scrutiny: it falls to the ground. I've seen this expression in 19th-Century books, but not in the 20th-Century novel.
I find it fascinating that an entire century can have its own expressions and words. Does anyone else notice the language of the century?