UN3612: Introduction to Computational Literary | J. Reeve

English and Comparative Literature
Undergraduate Seminar
W 12:10-2PM

Computational literary analysis is a new subfield of literary studies, which applies techniques of data science, computer science, and traditional close reading to the study of literature. This course is a practical introduction to computational literary methods which presumes no background in programming or computer science. It is well-suited to humanities students who are interested in experimental methods, and to students in STEM fields who are interested in literary studies. The course will cover many of the topics of an introductory course in natural language processing or computational linguistics, but center our inquiries around literary critical questions. The course will teach techniques of text analysis using the Python programming language. Special topics to be covered include authorship detection (stylometry), dependency parsing, and lexical analysis. The class will attempt to answer questions such as:

• Did Shakespeare really write the plays in the Shakespeare apocrypha?
• How can we measure sexual attraction among characters in literary romances?
• Are weapons in detective novels typically introduced early or late in the novel?
• What words are most frequently used to describe female characters in nineteenth century novels?
• Who had a richer vocabulary, Charles Dickens or Jane Austen?
• What was James Joyce’s favorite color?

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