What is the source of the allusion in the sentence below?
Brennan's recent behavior made his parents begin to see his friend Edgar as some sort of Svengali.
literature modern history
An allusion is a brief mention of something or someone well known, often from mythology, history, or literature. An allusion lets you reference ideas from an entire story in just a few words.
The protean nature of the disease makes it difficult to diagnose.
The word protean is an allusion to the sea god Proteus in Greek mythology. Because the sea is constantly changing, to describe something as protean suggests that it is variable or in flux.
The source of the allusion Svengali is literature.
In George du Maurier's novel Trilby, Svengali is a hypnotist who exerts such power over the central character that she is suddenly able to sing, which she was unable to do before.
The allusion Svengali means a person with an unduly strong influence over someone else.