Reading by Numbers: An Outcome of The Australian Literary and Publishing History Project

In Reading by Numbers, I propose and demonstrate a new digital approach to literary history. Drawing on bibliographical information on the Australian novel in the AustLit database, I address debates and issues in literary studies through a method that combines book history’s pragmatic approach to literary data with the digital humanities' idea of computer modeling as an experimental and iterative practice. As well as showcasing this method, the case studies in Reading by Numbers provide a revised history of the Australian novel, focusing on the nineteenth century and the decades since the end of the Second World War, and engaging with a range of themes including literary and cultural value, authorship, gender, genre and the transnational circulation of fiction. My findings challenge established arguments in Australian literary studies, book history, feminism, and gender studies, while presenting innovative ways of understanding literature, publishing, authorship and reading, and the relationships between them. More broadly, by demonstrating critical ways in which the growing number of digital archives in the humanities can be mined, modeled and visualised, Reading by Numbers offers new directions and scope for digital humanities research.
Type
Collection
Title
Reading by Numbers: An Outcome of The Australian Literary and Publishing History Project
Brief Title
Reading by Numbers
Collection Type
Collection
Access Privileges
School of Culture, History and Language
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
10.25911/5c8f2124c1d95
Metadata Language
English
Data Language
English
Brief Description
In Reading by Numbers, I propose and demonstrate a new digital approach to literary history. Drawing on bibliographical information on the Australian novel in the AustLit database, I address debates and issues in literary studies through a method that combines book history’s pragmatic approach to literary data with the digital humanities' idea of computer modeling as an experimental and iterative practice.
Full Description
In Reading by Numbers, I propose and demonstrate a new digital approach to literary history. Drawing on bibliographical information on the Australian novel in the AustLit database, I address debates and issues in literary studies through a method that combines book history’s pragmatic approach to literary data with the digital humanities' idea of computer modeling as an experimental and iterative practice. As well as showcasing this method, the case studies in Reading by Numbers provide a revised history of the Australian novel, focusing on the nineteenth century and the decades since the end of the Second World War, and engaging with a range of themes including literary and cultural value, authorship, gender, genre and the transnational circulation of fiction. My findings challenge established arguments in Australian literary studies, book history, feminism, and gender studies, while presenting innovative ways of understanding literature, publishing, authorship and reading, and the relationships between them. More broadly, by demonstrating critical ways in which the growing number of digital archives in the humanities can be mined, modeled and visualised, Reading by Numbers offers new directions and scope for digital humanities research.
Contact Email
katherine.bode@anu.edu.au
Contact Address
School of Literature Languages & Linguistics Research School of Humanities & the Arts 14 Ellery Crescent, A.D. Hope Building The Australian National University ACT 2600 Australia
Contact Phone Number
+61 2 6125 9845
Principal Investigator
Katherine Bode
Supervisors
Katherine Bode
Fields of Research
200502 - Australian Literature (excl. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Literature)
Type of Research Activity
Strategic basic research
Date Coverage
1830
2006
Geospatial Location
text
Australia
Date of data creation
2007
Year of data publication
2019
Creator(s) for Citation
Katherine
Bode
Publisher for Citation
ANU Data Commons, The Australian National University
Publications
isbn
9780857284549 (hbk.)
Reading by Numbers: Recalibrating the Literary Field
Bode, K 2012, Reading by Numbers: Recalibrating the Literary Field, Anthem Press, UK.
Related Websites
https://www.austlit.edu.au/specialistDatasets/ResourcefulReading/ReadingByNumbers
AustLit
Access Rights Type
Open
Rights held in and over the data
Creative Commons Licence (CC BY) is assigned to this data. Details of the licence can be found at http://creativecommons.org.au/licences
Licence Type
CC-BY - Attribution
Retention Period
Indefinitely
Data Management Plan
No

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Identifier: anudc:5930

Status: Published
Published to:
  • Australian National University
  • Australian National Data Service
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