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/lit/ - Literature

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1879153 No.1879153 [Reply] [Original]

Hey /lit/ I've been ambushed by deadly ENGLISH LANGUAGE and I'm slightly confused.

'if not'

Do I understand correctly that this expression can link both... uhh... not sure how to put this, does 'if not' go both ways when linking words, as in it can take on the meaning 'although not really as (good as)' - for example 'affordable, if not exactly cheap' - as well as actually emphasizing the quality - i.e. 'one of the major themes, if not the single most important one'?

Or did I get it wrong somewhere and there is no uncertainty? Particularly the latter expression, I would always assume it serves to emphasize that actually, this single theme just might be the most important one (as opposed to 'well it's a major theme but not really THE n.1 theme').


P.S. doing a short paper on civilization/image of the city in the Heart of Darkness, any tips except for the obvious imagery of a whited sepulchre inhabited by pretty much hollow men kept in check via fairly arbitrary means and being only a short way of succumbing to the hollowness?

>> No.1879172
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1879172

More to the point, has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

>> No.1879187

>>1879172
That's not helping.

>> No.1879327
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1879327

>> No.1879333
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1879333

The white sepulchre is a biblical reference, if not you already knew that.

Civilization in HoD? There's narrowed to, like, one chapter.