xi Precontons ‘Many thanks are also duc tothe members of he escarch groups wit ‘whlch veboon asi over the yar, inhoding the University of Virgins Insts for Advanced Technology inthe Homanits, Viynia Center for Digital History, and Specultive Computing Lab the Wanhoe Working Group, the Text Analss Developers Allines the Univerty of Nebrasa-Lincolls ‘Center for Digital Reseateh inthe Humanities: andthe MONK Project. ‘am deeply honored to bave been apart of these extraordinary centers of {ctiy The donens of scholag engineers, digital humanist, media theo ‘nts and adminintrtors Talis wth this ist have made the task of writing ‘boakabout the future they represent pleasurable one Lam especialy poo trhave worked with Taya Clement, Malt Kirchesbaum, Worthy Martin, Bethanie Nowvishe, Daniel Pa, Ken Price, Bian Pylik-Zilig, Sara Steger ‘Will Thomas, Kay Walter my intepc editors at the University of Minos Pres, Rey Siemens, Bil Reger Susan Schreiber and my copyeior Hl Hughes. Towe an enormous deb of thanks to my wif, ne, who read this work to the point of memorization and suggested improvements with gentleness andere My paents—to whom this work slovingly dedicaed-~efered me 4 gt that in sable ways informs this work at its core: never once did they sskeme what I was going todo with it | 1 AN ALGORITHMIC CRITICISM Digital humanities, like most Feld of scholar inquiry, costiuted itself through along acretion of revolutionary insight territorial rivalry, paradig tnatc rupture and socal convergence. But Ue felis unusual in that it has ‘fen pointed both oa founder and to a moment of creation. The founder Js Roberto Bus, an Kalan Jsut priest who inthe late 19408 undertook. the production of an automaticly generated concordance to the works of "Thomas Aquinas using a computer. Te founding moment was he teation feral transformed, oorered disassembled and reasebled version ‘fone ofthe words not nflentil philosophies hsp vein pccatu non coat ot coc erbum ahem non Ste ‘nin se onto esas imparted SesesNssabenl6 cosine proc eine hs quanta espera ecm ‘owt ccerstnem a esl pace SSeoshnessesu ‘os ite quot apprehend w posable apse, peer tam quo ‘Samm pees et ile spe eletstionem “onGSN)s6a 20/8 bos operations qua ud quod ordinate us pracses enemas peril, dca sent vel ier ost cafs nde 339) ‘Undertaking suchtsformations forthe purpose ofumanistic inquiry would eventually come tobe called “tet analysis andi teary ud com. ‘putational text analysis has been used to sly problems elated to style andsthorshi for neal sixty years As the ids matured ths incorporated ‘ements of some ofthe most advanced farms oftechnical endeavor, includ Ingnatural lingoage processing, statistical compting, corpus linguistics, data mining and atic ineligence Ht iseay the most quantitative approach to the sady of tecature,argably the oldest form of digital trary study. ands inthe opinion of many, the mos sient form of teary investigation, Butalgorthmic ert? derived from algorithmic manip tion of tet either doesnot eit exists only i nascent form. The digital revoltion, forall ks wonders has not penetrated the core activity of iter try studies, which despite numerous revoations ofa more epistemological ‘ature remains mostly concerned with the interpretative analysis of written ritual artficts. Texts are browsed, searched, and disseminated by al but the most hardened Ladies in ierary study, bt seldom are they tans- formed algorithmically a mean of gaining entry tothe deliberately and self-consciouly subjective act of etal interpretation, Even text amass ‘racitionecs avoid bringing the heemenectcl freedom of iis tothe ‘uttod text, old statements strong readings and broad generations (to say nothing of radical misteadings anarchic accusations, and agonistic peratextual revoks) ze rare fmt entice absent from the Ieratue ofthe Fel, where the emphases far more often placed on methodology and the limitations imposes itis perhaps not surprising tha tet analysis would begin this way. Buss ‘own revolution was fray rooted inthe philological traditions to which modern ciiciam was largely a reaction, Reflecting on the creaion ofthe Index some forty years afer fact, Bus offered the following motivations. reali atta pig tescoprphil ingen the veal system afan ator as to precede ad prepare ors doctrinal iterreaton| ‘is wars, ach wre express his concep ster in ad dough his ‘cel syste, wth he cnaequeace tat te eer who asters this eb yt sings cen conceal tan, bas tga insight he wees ‘Sonepat. The ender shoud no simply atch othe words reads {hesigicace hey bane in mind bu shuld ytd xt wha sig ‘ae ey had oe ators mind naa 8) Such ideas would not have seemed unusual oninetenth-cenury biblical scholars for whom mesning was something oth knowable and recoverable ‘through corfu sietfic analysis oflanguage gene, textual recension, and Istria context Nor wou it with some rephrasing ave ben a radial proposition ether fr Thomas himfr forthe Dominican friars who pro Uced the fst concordance (tthe Volga] in the hirtenth century How ‘An lgorithnie Ceti 3 vere do no injustice to Bas achievement in noting thatthe contemporary ital ethos regards Buss central methodological tents a gros naive ‘Modecnertis, increasingly skeptical of aathoria intention aa normative ‘principe anc linguini meaning a stable eaiy, has largely bundoned the ‘oa that we could ever keep from reading ourekes into the reading of an author and io longer concerned with tempting avidthisconunéeum, "But even in Basa highly conventional methodological project, wit ts mized fragmeniation ofa divine test, we ea discern the enormous lib- gine ofthe camp ne ial ration fa presence” was a age leimot. Baton page 6529 ofthe algorithmically transformed text, “presence” is that toward which every formation tends, the central feature of every aterance and the pattern that orders all that surrounds it We encounter “ut sic hoc” and "ut possibile” but the trans formed ext doesnot pemitusto complete those thoughis ven Rusa would yhave had to concede that dhe effet i not the immediate apprebension of ‘owed, but instead what the Russian Formals called otranenio—the ctrangement and defaiaszation of textolty, One might suppose that being able ro see texte in euch strange and unfaniliae ways woud give such procedures an important place in tect! revolution the Rusian Forma iste gnited—which sto Sythe movement tha wlimatly give ise to the Inermeneutice philosophic that would supplant Bus own methodology. ‘at text analysis wold take 2 much more conservative path. gin and gun inthe literature of txt analysis, we seca movement back toward the hermeneutics of Buss, with the analogy of since being put Fort a the ghest aspiration of digital iterary study For Roseanne Pots, writing in the late 1s, "the principled use of technology and criticism” necessarily ‘ied criticism becoming “seoktely comfortable wik este method” (61-92). Her hops, shared by many inthe el, was thatthe crossover might create rics “suffused with humanistic values” but there was aever a ‘sggistion that the “scenific methods of algorithmic manipulation might need tstblsh comfort wit the humanities. Aral asthe humanities ‘that required deliverance fom the iter malady ththad overtaken moder ‘titi: "In our owa day, profesor ofiteratureindalgein what John Elis {i974} somewhat mocking called wise clcticisn’—agencral tendency to bpeloe thai you can compose an interesting argument support pos! tin, any wal argued assertion i asvaliasthe next one A scientific literary itis would not permit some of he most widespread of ltrary critical practices” (93). hose not openiy engaged in the hermeneutics of anything {oes”—historicis old or neve were presented with the setling logic of ‘uth and fslechood proposed by computational analyss“hice not deny the Witsoe and cultural content of Hierature (alin 198) and of language af aly, 1978). Noe can one overlook the very hand ube corso oflerary theory a Ie yy ince Darter poblihed Leder sco de rte (9) In pot of at of thse eioratons hve he technical satus of hypothe sae Uy bave nok been conimed empincly in terms of he data wich hey props to de ‘Soke lerary ets i where computer tcigues ond compater ata ‘om int tet om Fate 379) ‘Swsan Hockey, in Book intended net only to survey the fell of human tle computing bat ao to “erplsin the intelectual rationale for eetronie text technology in the humanities” later ofered a vision ofthe role of the ‘compuer i iterary study to which most contemporary text analysis pra tions aly subscribe “Compiters on as wth he sud flterature ina vary of ways sone tore cc than wher. Computer bate tol ae especialy good Fer comparative work, an er some nie tana lca ep i force he intergetatin ofthe eri These sere party suitable for testing hypotheses or fr vesiping intuition. They can provide coneete ‘evidence to sporo refit peso interpretations whic Keven he pst been sed oman ead andthe somewhat sereolpoas tig toting atc (68) [Ris nt dificil .ose why @ contemporary criticism temperamental and philosophically at peace with intuition and serendipity would choose to Ignore the corrective tendencies of the compute against the deficiencies ‘of "human reading” Text amass arises assist the crit, but only if the ‘riti agrees to operate within the regime of entific methodology with efuations” of hypotheses. ‘eshaps the boldest expression ofthese ideas comes from a 2008 editorial inthe Beson lobe tiled" Measure for Meare" Iai berry eri nathan Gotcha describes thefeld of Kterary studies itself a “moribund, aimless, snd increasingly ierlevant to the cancers not only ofthe ‘tse word but alto to the wot inside theory tower” Te sluion i ve dat even {CB Snow wold have found provocative Iehink theres ear sau tothi problem, Literary ties shoul become snore ke the scenes Literatre pesos shoal apply scenes research ethos, theories ttl toa ands instance en hyped proof Intesd of plesplica despair about the posit of knowledge, they shoul ere ene printers pins they do, ee An Alortmic Critic 5 sey sues can be eased into a dcp wich el undercanding ‘teste ad the human experince bus up long whale he word “This poporal may dren many of ny colesgues, who thay wry tht opting sete methods wuld educelaersry stay oa banc thei nce Buifweare wise, we can adm that the slences re dagany things Ieterthan we rad gun rman macnn ito abandoning, ‘edhngs thar make Lersturespecta. Gotshal fers no suggestions fr hove we might retain those things that, makelumanistic discourse tse "specal” He admits tobelng not vet fond ‘of what be presumes to be the man outline ofthat discourse (the “beauty rmyth? the death the author the primacy of soil and extra nuences in the constitution of deity, and the sexiamn of the Wester canon), but Ihc main concern ie that ich notionshave become the unexamined groan teu of contemporary cticism. Thi in ise is hardly bjetioabls tis dificult to imagine healthy pisteme tht doesnot constantly question even its most cherished assumptions. But that these ideas were themselves the product of decades ofan reflsction and dcbate, tha they euppanted “other ess thathad come tobe regarded ssiilariy uncntroversih and that they providea powerfl counterexample tothe“philosophical despair about ‘he posbilyofknowiedge" against which he iveghs seems no to essen Gotschall faith in final answers. Only the methodologies of scence and the rigor of computation can render unexamined assumptions “asiiable” Even Franco Moret, wise outlok on literary sty asarely quite Aiferent from Gottacall, shows trong evidence of embracing tis faith {i the false"! hepan this chapter by saying that quantitative data are seful because they ate independent of Interpretation; then, that they are challenging because they often demand an interpretation that transcend the _quamitatve eal now, most radially, we see them ay exiting theoreti cal explanations, and ask for a theory, not so mach of thé nov, but of whale anny of novelist forme A theory—of diversity” (Graphs 30) Moret ‘is rght to he excited about what he doing tis Bresthaking to se his graphs, maps and wees challenging acceped notions about the lneteenth- ‘century novel Bat one wonders why it isnecesaryto speak ofthese insights asproceeding rom that which “independent of interpretation” and which less tothe "“Zsication of eae obtained through more conventional ha ‘manistic means. Is asif everything under discussion a thetorical object ‘except the “sta” The datas presented to usin all thee cases—not as somthing that also in ned of interpetation, but a Dr Jobo tone hurting through the space of our limited vision,“he procedure hat Bsus transfor Thoms an clermatve tet 1 at tence provedsey igor in te tices sen Sn repeter ogee tcl athe mos appropriate metaphor is weaotdayEenosuchalporthnsare ceded inactive bat appear wei the chance of experiment Bos inthe fists, frmed “e Rpothess conning he importance of eran concepts inthe work, Hethensought to determine the parameters (the fr of sua ini tnrand shat frandgerient hat cou aia vibty Pik hyotheai The experiment nove through he argtenvzonent (hetead ah tinct ofa sete nsrament creating ose Se at eer tern The certions were then wed fo cen he iypottes wi wich Re began. Bn cary ial pefens cry comfort within sch feame- won Autorhp atrvatn, for example seks deft anevers £0 wetnneal quntons concerning whether or aot a works bya parla Saag designed vo ajdt such qeston an fen Be oF anneal th ype conto groups vation rosie, ee repeoduae methods he same str foray text aa procede ‘Iutculswrts caposticbascenpistal tactsfatext (ten anesescy stadt ent vom and esl ibogeaphy- Hemenetcaly are velgttens ey upon aro phosopial posvism in which Tein over lafablia formethe bss forinterpatire ‘gen Inte pers dncar els here of ate ke ‘ptt eter of Te Feat was wrt y James Madison or "The vs saat etn Rome and it memos econ te Fer ed ohinge more ot eset onthe apport of concrete text Uke’ one mag chlege the intrpeaion a the fc or te he ‘icttrc tte evden bat on eto andpoin ats ae what permit deny judgment ofan ors ofertcal endeavor however, appenst0 "he fact? prve fac seth Camnier oe arp iam Walls iscsion os Jetty in Vigna Woes novel The Waves tn this ey Tanto reste The Wave a compenymuaing and ‘oman sobjetvity trough splat fomal tl nd sion of oe pow tity The Waves mola aleroative salectiviy that exceeds ‘he donmant hte, male hese idvideal ester jet thagh Esse usge of tape and tony. Fossig a he masa eotracion of stjectiy revel the pertinence of The Wines fo cue emu configurations othe esi abject. hs focus inks he now ‘SBonary ination tothe ise mrmeat of Modis. (55-09) An Agoritie Crim 7 ‘Wallace frames her discourse asa "esituation” of Wools novel within sovera large ids of erica discourse. This wil presumably involve the marshaling f evidence nd the annundation of aims, tay even inralre ‘oflering various “facts” in support afer conclusions. But hermeneutical, Iierary critical arguments ofthis sort donot stand inthe same ration ship to facts, claims, and evidence a the more empirical forms of ingry. ‘Thereis no experiment that can verify the ida that Wool “playfl formal style reformulate subjectivity or that her ‘lision of corporeal materiality exceeds the dominant Wester subject. There is no contol group that ean ‘contain “curent feminist econfigurations" And surely theres no metic by which we may quantify “pertinence” cher foc Woolf r fer the author own judgment "The hermeneutical implications ofthese sbeences invoke ancient suspicions ‘owand rhecori, and in particular, toward the shetorcal fice of memo: the sophistic proces of seking truth through the dialectical interplay af trust ‘motion logic, and dion, which has since the severtenth century, con tended wit the promises of empiricism (Bold 543-44). In some sense. bu nist dicouie seems to lack mabodlogy it eannos Jess throu] ‘ier eagagenca la paeco eas of enleatonareven ie parcios “Sao ce Vets Cadac pointed atin Tr and Method ‘hehermenentc phenomena ebay aot problem of method ata te Soteamcrnel wih metod of understanding nee of wich exe ‘ubjectedto acetic vestigation ike al other obetsoexpence int Cenrerned primary with assingveriied owed. ches wold shy the methodol el of science—yet i toi concernd ath knowl snd with eth. Bat whatkindafkaowlege cad whathnd of ash? G4) Gadamer question ot easly answered, but wemay sy that froma purely cultural standpoint itera criticism operates ta ester in which under standing, knowledge, and truth occur outside ofthe narrower denotative realm in which sce statements are made. It is not merely the case that literary cris is concerned with something ober than the amassing of ‘ered knowledge Literary eritcim operates within alermeneatal ame ‘workin which te apical sient caning ofc neti veriation, Sloidex enh tmp Te i The Tce of Woolhowever we choose inconstrethis erm ae nthe principal objets of dy ier et cls and "evidence sande asa metpitfoc the delicate uldng backs of ‘heoral prsuson We "eas ony oeablsh webs of eration and inuence, "Verification" occursina socal community of chars whose ‘gseement or disagreement is almost never pat forth without qualifction,_ortislevste poetic poson Frere ices wig coca te gene ty of computor methods fore poet haan nly we mst nel contend wh Feedancelauneon betwen ery cel mdand captain ‘Seoul har ude compuatin hough ot sete the Stn efter ofr ey the eto of Compr aes Hokey msn tung, meting nd ine Nite est) vetyng etn we ge he acy of dt by te Sage ie case teu tse roca When resorted the ats eno ete ‘Rracuble onthe stan of he compan ube Pape bed tal aac sce eranrmed fm cots eld im ‘ane more unin xm Ge dita recompense ‘St wih anchoring by hth ogueofcotinyan ‘hatnedand come eae, Wescep he comprombs thee ‘Sch euaormaons noire ape bref ped, sonst {Sua computtonl pees fd But testuaton con Stesslymmccompleaedin crohns underal ith thecal Ntangle tenet io Wales rs need ver tftestmomens one cncunt nr eta dour canbe ated rth way Nota compu an dew the conn ha Waa dos by aang think beeen ie nov nay nn! and "Ue ht ome of Modesnparoy se he Moers eng ied her ate mateo hig omar peso ith ses Chl cain gave inst ajeve mame of engage Gren the cnet rope wenpcson we mighconhde alex nse deed ae ey cea bless eset