In this Book
- Reading Machines: Toward and Algorithmic Criticism
- Book
- 2011
- Published by: University of Illinois Press
- Series: Topics in the Digital Humanities
summary
Besides familiar and now-commonplace tasks that computers do all the time, what else are they capable of? Stephen Ramsay's intriguing study of computational text analysis examines how computers can be used as "reading machines" to open up entirely new possibilities for literary critics. Computer-based text analysis has been employed for the past several decades as a way of searching, collating, and indexing texts. Despite this, the digital revolution has not penetrated the core activity of literary studies: interpretive analysis of written texts.
Computers can handle vast amounts of data, allowing for the comparison of texts in ways that were previously too overwhelming for individuals, but they may also assist in enhancing the entirely necessary role of subjectivity in critical interpretation. Reading Machines discusses the importance of this new form of text analysis conducted with the assistance of computers. Ramsay suggests that the rigidity of computation can be enlisted in the project of intuition, subjectivity, and play.
Table of Contents
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- Preconditions
- pp. ix-xii
- 1. An Algorithmic Criticism
- pp. 1-17
- 2. Potential Literature
- pp. 18-31
- 3. Potential Readings
- pp. 32-57
- 4. The Turing Text
- pp. 58-68
- 5. ’Patacomputing
- pp. 69-82
- Postconditions
- pp. 83-86
- Works Cited
- pp. 91-94
Additional Information
ISBN
9780252093449
Related ISBN(s)
9780252036415, 9780252078200
MARC Record
OCLC
785781161
Pages
112
Launched on MUSE
2013-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2011