Les Misérables vocabulary

I must needs own it was by the assistance of this arcanum that I, though otherwise impar, have adventured upon so daring an attempt, never achieved or undertaken before but by a certain author called Homer, in whom, though otherwise a person not without some abilities, and for an ancient of a tolerable genius;

Jonathan Swift. A Tale of Tub (1704)

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I became a student of arcana so I could keep her interested: the Lake poets, the code duello, the French Revolution. Her mind was both wide and deep, and I got smarter being with her.

Gillian Flynn. Gone Girl, p.214 (2012)

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Anonymus, or Etræneus Philaletha Cosmopolita. Secrets Reveal'd or, An Open Entrance to the Shut Palace of the King. (1669) preface

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Little by little, the arcana of this art, most neglected of all, was revealed to Des Esseintes who could now read this language, as diversified and insinuating as that of literature, this style with its unexpected concision under its vague flowing appearance.

Joris-Karl Huysmans. À Rebours

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But the crowning mystery of all the great family arcana, the thing that was going to astonish papa and mamma past all recovery, was certain projected book marks, that little Ally was going to be made to work for them.

Harriet Beecher Stowe. The May Flower and Miscellaneous Writings (1855)

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‘Under the impression,’ said Mr. Micawber, ‘that your peregrinations in this metropolis have not as yet been extensive, and that you might have some difficulty in penetrating the arcana of the Modern Babylon in the direction of the City Road,

Charles Dickens. David Copperfield (1850)