Scientific methods in literary studies and the traps of apparent objectivism – the case of stylometry Cover Image

Metody ścisłe w literaturoznawstwie i pułapki pozornego obiektywizmu – przykład stylometrii
Scientific methods in literary studies and the traps of apparent objectivism – the case of stylometry

Author(s): Maciej Eder
Subject(s): Literary Texts
Published by: Instytut Badań Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Summary/Abstract: The author discusses several crucial issues related to the use of scientific methods in literary studies, especially the problem of unstable (unreliable) results. With the case study of 28 Polish novels certain limitations of the so-called “cluster analysis” have been presented. In the following part of the article, the author presents the method of calculating textual similarities which is free of such limitations. In order to visualize the results the tools of network analysis have been applied. Even the most advanced techniques of clustering texts are not able to provide absolute objectivism of an experiment.

  • Issue Year: 2014
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 90-105
  • Page Count: 16