Should We Teach Literature Students How To Analyze Texts Algorithmically?

When the U.K. newspaper the Sunday Times outed J.K. Rowling as the author of detective novel The Cuckoo's Calling earlier this year, computer scientists were among the first people called in. Although the novel was published under the pen name Robert Galbraith, two computational scholars––including Duquesne University's Patrick Juola––were tasked with confirming or denying whether the novel belonged to the Harry Potter author, or one of three other possible writers. That Juola succeeded (his conclusions were later confirmed by Rowling herself) speaks volume about the the potential that algorithms and computer science can have, even with application to a field as notoriously subjective as literature. Which raises an interesting question: Can we use software to help us think about literature? Reverse Engineering J.K. Rowling To explore that question, we should first look at how the Juola cracked Rowling's writing style. To begin the process, Juola loaded 1,000–word samples of The Cuckoo's Calling in to his self–designed Java Graphical Authorship Attribution Program (JGAAP), along with several other texts, including The Casual Vacancy, Rowling's first post–Harry Potter novel. A freely available Java–based, modular program for textual analysis, categorization, and authorship attribution, JGAAP analyzed the texts on four different variables: word–length distribution, the use of common words like "the" and "of," recurring–word pairings, and the distribution of "character... Continue reading at 'Fast Company'

[ Fast Company | 2013-09-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #casual vacancy #harry potter

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A Reading List of Realistic Portraits of Mothers and Daughters in Literature

When reading about mothers and daughters, we might feel grateful we didn’t have to endure such conflict and trauma. We might long for what we, ourselves, never had. But then again, we might feel seen. More often, literature reflects troubling, toxic, or estranged mother-daughter relationships... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-01 09:35:26 UTC ]
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WLT to Host “Indigenous Literatures of the Americas” Event at Green Feather Books, by The Editors of WLT

WLT to Host “Indigenous Literatures of the Americas” Event at Green Feather Books, by The Editors of WLT News and Events [email protected] Mon, 08/28/2023 - 15:10 World Literature Today, the University of Oklahoma’s award-winning magazine of... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2023-08-28 20:10:58 UTC ]
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India’s Jaipur Literature Festival Heads for Three US Cities

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-08-28 18:36:15 UTC ]
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Devotionals for Children: A Faith-Based Teaching Tool

Short, faith-based content that can be approached one day at a time is a winning combination for young readers, according to religion publishers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-25 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Which European city appears the most often in literature?

If you guessed London, you’re right—London is mentioned at least three times more often than any other European city. (Wonder why?) As Travel Daily reports, a digital printing company called Aura Print has apparently processed the entire Google Books database to “identify the cumulative mentions... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-22 14:51:06 UTC ]
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The Best New Korean Literature In Translation

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Zamora: It's time for the Pulitzer Prize for literature to accept noncitizens

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By combining self-help and literature, the School of Life’s first novel does both a disservice | Alice Kemp-Habib

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[ The Guardian | 2023-07-07 15:45:50 UTC ]
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Cormac McCarthy, bleak and brutal titan of American literature, dead at 89

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[ CBC | 2023-06-13 20:01:40 UTC ]
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CCBC Releases Statistics Regarding Diversity in Children's Literature Published in 2022

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The moments in literature we DEFY ChatGPT to compute.

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[ Literrary Hub | 2023-06-05 14:57:22 UTC ]
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What Banned Books Can Teach Us: Building an LGBTQ Picture Book Library for Pride 

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[ Literrary Hub | 2023-06-01 08:53:12 UTC ]
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Student chefs cook thousands of meals for Montreal's Native Friendship Centre

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U.S. Book Show 2023: Spotlight on Arabic Literature

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On creating a board game that is also a work of literature.

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Bookworm in a Chrysalis: How Language Acquisition Nourishes a Love of Literature

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[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-19 08:52:49 UTC ]
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