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Distant Reading and Discourse Analysis
With the publication of the collection "Distant Reading and Discourse Analysis," edited by Maurice Erb, Simon Ganahl, and Patrick Kilian, we continue our experiment of updating and operationalizing the thought of Michel Foucault. Can historical discourse analyses be carried out with the aid of computers? In order to examine this question, we compare Franco Moretti's distant reading with Foucault's archaeological method. Despite their common origins in the French Annales School, the two approaches differ fundamentally. While Moretti interprets literary data by means of social history, Foucault seeks the immanent meaning of discourses. Our preliminary conclusion: a digital archaeology of knowledge appears to founder on the operationalization of the complex concept of the statement (énoncé). Apart from three research papers and a introductory editorial, the collection also includes a substantial interview with Franco Moretti. In 2023, this special issue was updated and supplemented by the summarizing article "Foucault, the Digital Humanities, the Method."
Editorial
Distant Reading and Discourse Analysis
Maurice Erb, Simon Ganahl and Patrick Kilian
2016-06-28 Volume 2 • Issue 1 • 2016 • 1–7
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Interview
Distant Reading, Computational Criticism, and Social Critique: An Interview with Franco Moretti
Ruben Hackler and Guido Kirsten
2016-05-16 Volume 2 • Issue 1 • 2016 • 1–17
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Research
Fernlesen mit Foucault? Überlegungen zur Praxis des distant reading und zur Operationalisierung von Foucaults Diskursanalyse
Peer Trilcke and Frank Fischer
2016-04-26 Volume 2 • Issue 1 • 2016 • 1–18
Also a part of:
Alles oder gar nichts lesen? Foucault, Moretti und die Verheißungen des Algorithmus
Maurice Erb
2016-04-11 Volume 2 • Issue 1 • 2016 • 1–9
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Of Trees and Genealogies: A Foucauldian Commentary on Franco Moretti
Patrick Kilian
2016-03-23 Volume 2 • Issue 1 • 2016 • 1–10
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