Distant Reading

by Franco Moretti

Overview

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD 

How does a literary historian end up thinking in terms of z-scores, principal component analysis, and clustering coefficients? The essays in Distant Reading led to a new and often contested paradigm of literary analysis. In presenting them here Franco Moretti reconstructs his intellectual trajectory, the theoretical influences over his work, and explores the polemics that have often developed around his positions.

From the evolutionary model of “Modern European Literature,” through the geo-cultural insights of “Conjectures of World Literature” and “Planet Hollywood,” to the quantitative findings of “Style, inc.” and the abstract patterns of “Network Theory, Plot Analysis,” the book follows two decades of conceptual development, organizing them around the metaphor of “distant reading,” that has come to define—well beyond the wildest expectations of its author—a growing field of unorthodox literary studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781781680841
Publisher:	Verso Books
Publication date:	06/04/2013
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Franco Moretti teaches English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He is the author of Signs Taken for Wonders, The Way of the World and Modern Epic, all from Verso.

Table of Contents

Modern European Literature: A Geographical Sketch 1

Conjectures on World Literature 43

The Slaughterhouse of Literature 63

Planet Hollywood 91

More Conjectures 107

Evolution, World-Systems, Weltliteratur 121

The End of the Beginning: A Reply to Christopher Prendergast 137

The Novel: History and Theory 159

Style, Inc.: Reflections on 7,000 Titles (British Novels, 1740-1850) 179

Network Theory, Plot Analysis 211

Index 241

Editorial Reviews

In the 10 linked essays in this collection, Moretti (Signs Taken for Wonders)—a literary historian and the director of Stanford University’s Literary Lab—fearlessly, often gleefully, challenges entrenched conceptions about world cultures and arts. In “Modern European Literature: A Geographical Sketch,” he disputes the notion of a literature that reflects “a European ‘essence,’” arguing instead that European literature comprises “national (and regional) entities, clearly different, and often hostile to each other,” bound in a relationship of “productive enmity.” In its companion piece, “Conjectures on World Literature,” he similarly explodes the notion of a single contemporary literature that accommodates the writing of all nations, pointing out how the rise of the modern novel in non-Western countries often shows “a compromise between a Western formal influence... and local materials” (i.e., the social context of the nation in question). Some of the essays are fancy packages for obvious insights, among them “Planet Hollywood,” whose study of the popularity of American films in non-American markets will surprise no one with its revelation that action films cross national borders more easily than comedies, because the action films replace language and words with “sheer noise”—“explosions, crashes, gunshots, screams”—that all cultures understand. Regardless of whether readers agree with Moretti’s conclusions, they will find that his application of economic theory, network theory, and evolutionary models to literature and culture shows these subjects from fresh and often provocative new perspectives. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"One of the most daring and intellectually exciting books of the year."—Washington Post

“The great iconoclast of literary criticism.”—John Sutherland, Guardian

“It’s a rare literary critic who attracts so much public attention, and there’s a good reason: few are as hellbent on rethinking the way we talk about literature.”—Times Literary Supplement

“Moretti, a mythopoeic figure, generates around himself a dense network of folklore and apocrypha.”—n+1

“Moretti is already famous in bookish circles for his data-centric approach to novels, which he graphs, maps, and charts ... if his new methods catch on, they could change the way we look at literary history.”—Wired

“Distant reading might prove to be a powerful tool for studying literature.”—New York Times

From the Publisher

It’s a rare literary critic who attracts so much public attention, and there’s a good reason: few are as hellbent on rethinking the way we talk about literature.

Time Magazines Literary Supplement

The great iconoclast of literary criticism.

Guardian - John Sutherland

The great iconoclast of literary criticism.— John Sutherland

Guardian

Distant reading might prove to be a powerful tool for studying literature.

New York Times

Moretti is already famous in bookish circles for his data-centric approach to novels, which he graphs, maps, and charts ... if his new methods catch on, they could change the way we look at literary history.

Wired

Moretti, a mythopoeic figure, generates around himself a dense network of folklore and apocrypha.

n+1

It’s a rare literary critic who attracts so much public attention, and there’s a good reason: few are as hellbent on rethinking the way we talk about literature.

Times Literary Supplement

The great iconoclast of literary criticism.

John Sutherland - Guardian