Enumerations: Data and Literary Study

by Andrew Piper

For well over a century, academic disciplines have studied human behavior using quantitative information. Until recently, however, the humanities have remained largely immune to the use of data—or vigorously resisted it. Thanks to new developments in computer science and natural language processing, literary scholars have embraced the quantitative study of literary works and have helped make Digital Humanities a rapidly growing field. But these developments raise a fundamental, and as yet unanswered what is the meaning of literary quantity?
          In Enumerations , Andrew Piper answers that question across a variety of domains fundamental to the study of literature. He focuses on the elementary particles of literature, from the role of punctuation in poetry, the matter of plot in novels, the study of topoi, and the behavior of characters, to the nature of fictional language and the shape of a poet’s career. How does quantity affect our understanding of these categories? What happens when we look at 3,388,230 punctuation marks, 1.4 billion words, or 650,000 fictional characters? Does this change how we think about poetry, the novel, fictionality, character, the commonplace, or the writer’s career? In the course of answering such questions, Piper introduces readers to the analytical building blocks of computational text analysis and brings them to bear on fundamental concerns of literary scholarship. This book will be essential reading for anyone interested in Digital Humanities and the future of literary study.
 

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

Published September 4, 2018

About the author

I grew up liking books but loving computers. While I have fond memories of reading books, I have even fonder ones of going to computer camp, programming my TRS-80 and playing Pong. I belong to that first generation of children who grew up using home computers. I think it was this combination that led to my interest in the history of books and literature, to think about the way technologies change how we read and think. I am now a professor of literature at McGill University.

Reviews

[Differengenera · Rating 4 out of 5]

ambitious attempt to bridge the gap between CLS and post-structuralist textual theory, we see literature as negative, quantitative topics as becoming, etc. the analyses are all quite interesting (would've liked more of them) but sometimes strain slightly under the weight of the conceptual material; do topic models actually point to negative apprehension? do word clouds conclusively undermine theory of mind? is bataille the natural source to consult on why punctuation in 20th c. poetry changes? more digging into the actual nature of the algorithms which generate these models might have helped clarify this. kicks into gear a lot more in the second half with the poetry analyses, and piper's creation of novel metrics, vulnerability, novelty etc. to analyse poetic ouevres is all v interesting. i look forward to seeing what else he'll produce in the future but ultimately still waiting for someone to bring the dialectical tradition to bear on CLS, a philosophical school which can tolerate the existence of things in their material actuality as well as their capacity to transform themselves in their distinct combinations

[szymborskalyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably the best take on “distant readings” I’ve seen but it’s still quite limited. Yet to be convinced.