What is computational literary analysis?

Jonathan Reeve

What is computational literary analysis?

Jonathan Reeve
Literary Modeling and Visualization Lab
Group for Experimental Methods in the Humanities
Columbia University

The Basics

Reading Books With Computers

Books and Computers
Books and Computers

“Distant Reading”

The Great Unread

The Great Unread
The Great Unread

Famous Examples

Authorship Attribution

Robert Galbraith = J.K. Rowling
Robert Galbraith = J.K. Rowling

Hamlet Network Analysis

Network Analysis of Hamlet Characters
Network Analysis of Hamlet Characters

Stanford Literary Lab

Rap Lyrics Vocabulary Analysis

Vocabulary of Rap Lyrics
Vocabulary of Rap Lyrics

Matt Daniels

Word Cloud

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: Word Cloud
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: Word Cloud

Andreas Mueller

“Loudness” Analysis

Loudness in Pride and Prejudice
Loudness in Pride and Prejudice

Stanford Literary Lab

Game of Thrones Characters

Game of Thrones Characters
Game of Thrones Characters

Stylometry

Principal Component Analysis of Shakespeare Character Types
Principal Component Analysis of Shakespeare Character Types
Principal Component Analysis of Characters from The Great Gatsby
Principal Component Analysis of Characters from The Great Gatsby
Clarissa Letters
Clarissa Letters
Austen v. Eliot
Austen v. Eliot

Other Examples

Allusion Detection

Detection of Biblical and Classical Allusions, Plotted Diachronically
Detection of Biblical and Classical Allusions, Plotted Diachronically

Color Words in Paradise Lost

Color Words in Paradise Lost, by Section
Color Words in Paradise Lost, by Section

Dependency Parsing

Sir Robin
Sir Robin
Dependency Parsing
Dependency Parsing

Word Embeddings

Word Embeddings
Word Embeddings

Document Vectors

Document Vectors
Document Vectors

Ulysses: Titles of Works

Ulysses: Titles of Works
Ulysses: Titles of Works

Language Generation

Socrates: Do you came down, attain immortality as we must first make the longest ears—No, Phaedrus, then pray to agree and writing speeches.

Phaedrus: Certainly. Yes, certainly. What he must speak then I think he speaks is being guided about, which you mean?

Socrates: Do you seem less sense about rhetoric.

Phaedrus: True. What?

Macro-Etymological Textual Analysis

Consider these near-synonyms:

  • ask / question / interrogate
  • kingly / royal / regal
Latinate words, Brown Corpus, by genre
Latinate words, Brown Corpus, by genre
Latinate words, Paradise Lost, by speaker
Latinate words, Paradise Lost, by speaker
Latinate words, CLMET Fiction, by publication date
Latinate words, CLMET Fiction, by publication date

Chapter Analysis

Words distinctive of first paragraphs of chapters

morning, early, breakfast, afternoon, summer, autumn, winter, sunday, weather, october, arrival, june, september, saturday, awoke, situated, november, july, season, december

Words distinctive of middle paragraphs of chapters

replied, retorted, inquired, doesn’t, haven’t, mustn’t, shouldn’t, wid, fer, wi, em, yer, protested, nothin

Words distinctive of last paragraphs of chapters

kissed, farewell, bye, muttered, parted, disappeared, sank, page, asleep, strode, chapter, kiss, withdrew, homeward, sobbing, thanked, wept, murmured, prayed

Chapter Stats

Which are higher-rated on Goodreads?

Novels set in Paris, or London?

  • London: 3.35
  • Paris: 3.8

    • Most-Mentioned Greco-Roman Mythological Figure

    • Venus: 229
    • Muses: 156
    • Apollo: 136
    • Jupiter: 126
    • Juno: 100
    • Pan: 94