Distant Reading
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Overview
'Distant reading' is a research method coined by Franco Moretti in his 2005 book Graphs, Maps, Trees: Abstract Models for Literary History. The book argues that the currentscholarly literary domain has not accomplished enough and that itsstudies and techniques have become 'typical', limitingprogress. Moretti proposes, then, that the introduction ofquantitative methods from the natural and social sciences may serveto open up a new front of discussion.
In classic humanities research methods such a close-reading -the detailed observation, deconstruction, and analysis of the textitself and its content - the researcher closely interacts with onetext at a time and treats it as a ???unique??? entity. Distantreading, however, takes a step back; distant reading insteadencourages aggregating and analyzing massive amounts of data. AsMoretti puts it, "instead of concrete, individual works, atrio of artificial constructs - graphs, maps, and trees - in whichthe reality of the text undergoes a process of deliberate reductionand abstraction"(2).
Distant reading versus close reading: An example
In his graphs chapter, Moretti uses quantitative data to trackthe rise of the British novel. Moretti argues that one ofclose-reading???s flaws is that because it relies on reading fewtexts 'intensely' it covers so little of the whole field. Aresearcher may do a close reading of two hundred books published in19th century Britain in an attempt to understand the scope andnature of the literature and its genres but there's stillsixty-thousand more books published during this period. Even morebooks were published in other periods and places that would stillbe considered relevant to this canon, and the two hundred bookswould make up less than one percent of this.
To cover more data, Moretti read many more books'superficially' by breaking them down into their leastparticular, most interchangeable, most aggregated forms. The textsare represented through fewer elements but, he argues, are morecapable of representing sharper interconnections. He relies onquantitative data gathered by other researchers from severaldifferent fields as the basis for his graphs. Through these graphshe found cycles, shifts, and emerging patterns that two books wouldbe unable to make immediately clear.
For example, one of the graphs he created was based on the dataon genres at the time (image shown right). The graph reveals thatover the course of one hundred and sixty years there wereforty-four genres and two thirds of them lasted betweentwenty-three to thirty-five years. This is concrete data,pin-pointing facts and figures free from interpretation. However,what this data does not do is explain 'why' the data is theway it is - these answers require interpretation.
While distant reading methods may not provide answers, it doesraise questions and provide an alternative point of view and tospark fresh discussion.
Criticisms against distant reading
Many of the criticisms against distant reading are reminiscentto the tension between quantitative and qualitative methods whenstudying humanities work. For example, in her coverage ofMoretti's pamphlet study ??????Network Theory and PlotAnalysis??????, Kathryn Schulz's critiques include:
- Moretti isn't studying a science but literature, which can't be relied upon to obey natural laws. In his methods, Moretti shows a lack of interest in the "unquantifiable, inscrutable actions of intelligent human".
- The idea that truth can be best understood through quantitative models isn't new and has proven false. For example, when statistics* it too was believed it could provide concrete answers.
- Distaste for the idea that all entities (people included) couldbe simply data to be mined, only clearest when "they are leastparticular, most interchangeable, most aggregated".
One of the biggest general criticisms against distant readingcomes from the assumption that Moretti's ideas suggest weshould stop reading and count, graph, and map books instead or thatqualitative methods like close-reading are inadequate compared tothe quantitative.
Further Reading
Batuman, Elif. "Adventures of a Man of Science: Moretti in California", N+1. http://nplusonemag.com/adventures-man-science.
Moretti, F. (2006), Graphs, Maps, Trees: Abstract Models for a Literary Theory.
Moretti, F. "Network Theory, Plot Analysis", Literary Lab. May 11, 2011.
Scott McLemee, "Literature to Infinity". Inside Higher Ed. http://www.insidehighered.com/views/mclemee/mclemee193
Schulz, Kathryn. "The Mechanical Muse: What is Distant Reading?". NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/books/review/the-mechanic-muse-what-is-distant-reading.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&
