Search Analysis Reaches the Literary Canon
September 7, 2012
Search and data analytics have led to an interesting breakthrough in the classic literary cannon. Science Daily reports the findings of Matthew Jockers, an assistant professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in his use of text-mining to compare 18th and 19th century authors’ works with one another. The resulting article, “By Text-Mining the Classics, Professor Unearths New Literary Insights,” shares his findings. Jockers refers to the process as macroanalysis, which searches large amounts of text to systematically determine how books are connected to one another.
We learn:
“Jockers said the process of macroanalysis isn’t intended to be a computerized replacement for literary theory — rather, it’s a complementary method that, in the hands of theorists, can help them read and study classic authors’ works in new ways.
And he’s careful in his use of the word ‘influence,’ as well: While measuring and tracking true influence, either conscious or unconscious, isn’t really possible, Jockers said macroanalysis enables theorists to use measures of stylistic and thematic affinity as a clear indicator of an author’s influence.”
The findings open a whole new arena for literary theorists to explore classic literature. We find it exciting to see how the reaches of Big Data are affecting particular fields of thought and study. Digital methods and technology are advancing and this type of analyzing of large amounts of text is not as difficult as it may have once been.
Andrea Hayden, September 07, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
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