The purpose of this paper is to provide the uninitiated with a brief survey of what has been done from 1950 up to now in the field of computer-aided literary research. The authr deals with the following topics:
(1) The production of concordances--Examples of concordance packages are given for mainframes (KWIC and CLOC) and for micros (BYU Concordance System). Some textual databases are presented (Brown Corpus, LOB Corpus, and TLF). In addition, optical preparation of textual databases is discussed briefly.
(2) Textual analysis--This matter is dealt with only as far as statistical techniques are concerned. These aim mainly at finding a linguistic key to literary genres; following the intensity of a theme through a given text; measuring an author’s richness of vocabulary; resolving questions of disputed authorship; and creating conceptual or thematic maps.
(3) Synthesis of text by computer--This part is limited to the setting out of three experiences with computer-generated prose and poetry.
(4) AI recent approaches--Only trends are given, as no tangible realization has been achieved yet in the field of literary research.
The editorial preparation of this paper is questionable. It is true that natural-language analysis and synthesis by computer is most fashionable at present. However, a title such as “Literary Studies and Computer Science: 35 Years of Fruitful Marriage,” though less attractive, would have been more honest, intellectually speaking. In the same way, the subtitles “Textual Analysis” and “Synthesis by Computer” should be re-termed “Some Statistical Techniques” and “Computer-Generated Literary Text.” Finally, the Bibliography would have been more useful to the uninitiated, had it been more systematic. Outside the two criticisms, this paper remains a valuable introduction to the subject taken as a whole.
