Literary notes about rigmarole (AI summary)
In literature, "rigmarole" is frequently employed to evoke a sense of tedium or unnecessary complexity, often critiqued through humor or irony. Authors use the term to describe long-winded narratives or bureaucratic procedures, as seen when a tedious sequence of instructions or explanations is labeled a "rigmarole" [1, 2]. It can also serve as a dismissive comment toward convoluted storytelling or overly elaborate dialogue, inviting the reader to question the purpose behind such excessive detail [3, 4]. In other contexts, the term underscores self-deprecating reflections on one's own verbosity or the absurdity of a situation, highlighting its versatile and evocative role in literary discourse [5, 6].
- We understand each other's moods without having to go through a long rigmarole of introductory icebreaking.
— from A Schoolmaster's Diary Being Extracts from the Journal of Patrick Traherne, M.A., Sometime Assistant Master at Radchester and Marlton. by Patrick Traherne - And now, Jack, I'll wind up this rigmarole.
— from Marion's Faith. by Charles King - "This is a strange rigmarole you tell me," he said.
— from 'Farewell, Nikola' by Guy Boothby - cried Aunt Em, impatiently; "what's all this rigmarole about?"
— from The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum - he said abruptly; "this business of mine is a rigmarole.
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. Wells - For so many years I've been silent with the whole world and not deigned to speak, and all of a sudden I reel off a rigmarole like that.”
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
