Distant Reading, Computational Criticism, and Social Critique: An Interview with Franco Moretti

Abstract

In this interview with Ruben Hackler and Guido Kirsten, Franco Moretti elaborates on his biography and intellectual development, on 'distant reading' and his work at the Stanford Literary Lab, on the complicated relationships between literature, market, and ideology, and above all on the question what literary history might contribute to a social critique of the present. With regard to his experiences in the growing field of digital humanities, Moretti makes an argument for 'computational criticism' as a combination of data-driven research methods and in-depth analyses of literary texts.

Keywords

• algorithm
• big data
• data mining
• digital humanities
• distant reading
• marxism