• Institution
    • Leitung
    • Gremien
      • Wissenschaftlicher Beirat
        • Gesamtliste seit 1981
      • Stiftungsrat
      • Mitgliederversammlung
    • Ansprechpartner
    • Das Kolleg
      • Historie
        • Geschichte der Institution
          • Kurze Geschichte des Kollegs
        • Geschichte der Häuser und Gärten
          • Hauptgebäude
            • Exkurs - Der Garten
          • Weiße Villa
          • Neubau
          • Villa Jaffé
          • Villa Walther
        • Geschichte des Signets
      • Finanzierung & Satzungen
        • Satzung der Wissenschaftsstiftung
        • Satzung des Wissenschaftskollegs
      • Förderer & Freundeskreis
    • Initiativen & Kooperationen
      • Working Futures
        • Interviews
          • Gabriel Abend
          • Ève Chiapello
          • Elena Esposito
          • Michel Lallement
          • Sophie Bernard
          • David Stark
          • Richard Swedberg
        • Publications
          • Shifting Categories
          • Wiko Briefs - Working Futures in Corona Times
            • The digital transformation of work. COVID-19 as a taste of things to come?
            • Thinking the Global Rise of Forced Labor: Old, New, and Changing Forms of Labor Exploitation in Times of Crisis
            • Rearticulating globalization, solidarities, and work in Ethiopia
            • The future of shopping - Corona as a catalyst for the transformation of work
            • The End of the Pandemic of Productivism?
            • Covid and Looking for the Exit
            • Who or what is being tested in pandemic times?
            • The Crisis as Beginning of a New Relationship to the Professional World?
            • Controlled Avalanche – A Regulated Voluntary Exposure Approach for Addressing Covid-19
            • Caring about what we hold dear and the final purposes of work
            • How does the Corona crisis affect the future of work and our view of it?
            • "Useful", "indispensable", “essential”: Is the health crisis changing the categories with which we consider professional activities?
            • The Corona Crisis Reveals the Struggle for a Sustainable Digital Future
            • The Need for De-Integration in Pandemic Times
            • The COVID 19 crisis accelerates structural change in the world of work
            • How can we strengthen the contributory logic of work?
        • Events
        • Network
      • Blankensee-Colloquien
      • Anna Krüger Stiftung
      • Some Institutes for Advanced Study (SIAS)
      • Ukraine-Förderung
      • VUIAS
        • Bilder der Eröffnungsfeier
      • Elkana Fellowships
    • Bibliothek
      • Bestellen & Ausleihen
      • Recherche
        • Zeitschriften
        • Kataloge
        • Fachinformationsdienste
        • Archive
      • Bücher & Musik vor Ort
      • Fragen?
  • Fellows
    • Fellowfinder
    • Fellows 2024/2025
    • Permanent Fellows
      • Frühere Permanent Fellows
    • Alumni
      • Fellowclub
        • Verein
          • Geschichte
        • Mitgliedschaft
        • Newsletter
          • März 2025
            • Editorial
            • Architekturen des Überlebens: Ein Interview mit Natalia Romik (Elkana-Fellow 2024/2025)
            • „Definitionen sind keine letzten Wahrheiten“
            • Weitere Videos aus der Wikothek
            • Die School of Human Rights Association: Für eine gerechte und demokratische Wissenschaft in der Türkei
            • Wissenschaftsfreiheit im Kleinen
            • Save the Date: Jahrestreffen des Fellowclubs
            • Mitgliedschaft im Fellowclub
            • Mitgliedsbeiträge und Spenden
            • Neue Publikationen in der Fellowbibliothek
            • Preise
            • Obituarium
          • Februar 2024
            • Editorial
            • Mit essbaren Insekten die Welt ernähren
            • Schöner Leben
            • Weitere Videos aus der Wikothek
            • Gespräch mit einer linkshändigen Friseurin: die Soziologin Barbara Thériault (Fellow 2023/2024)
            • Teller, die Fragen aufwerfen: Interview mit Chef de cuisine Sonja Frühsammer
            • Runden um den Grunewaldsee: fünf Jahre Wicked Wiko Runners
            • Save the Date – Treffen des Fellowclubs 2024
            • Mitgliedschaft im Fellowclub
            • Mitgliedsbeiträge und Spenden
            • Neue Publikationen in der Fellowbibliothek
            • Preise
            • Obituarium
          • Februar 2023
            • Editorial
            • Geschichtslehrer des Volkes
            • Krieg und Frieden. Vergangenheit und Zukunft der Ukraine
            • Frostig, beschämt, befreit
            • Musik eines Geflüchteten
            • Grußwort des Vorsitzenden
            • Save the dates – Fellowtreffen 2023
            • Mitgliedschaft im Fellowclub
            • Mitgliedsbeiträge und Spenden
            • Neue Publikationen in der Fellowbibliothek
            • Preise
            • Obituarium
          • März 2022
            • Editorial
            • Politik, Recht und Wissenschaft in Zeiten der Pandemie
            • Pandemics: The Maths, the Masks, the Madness
            • Roni Taharlev: Der Vorbote von Corona
            • Rachel Wheatley: Berlin mit Maske
            • Grußwort des Vorsitzenden
            • Save the dates – Fellowtreffen 2022
            • Mitgliedschaft im Fellowclub
            • Mitgliedsbeiträge und Spenden
            • Neue Publikationen in der Fellowbibliothek
            • Preise
            • Obituarium
          • Februar 2021
            • Editorial
            • Zwischen Eigenzeit und Interdisziplinarität
            • Sag's durch die Maske!
            • Was war und zu welchem Ende studiert man Trumpismus?
            • Als die Computer laufen lernten
            • Zum Abschied von Sonja Grund
            • Angelika Leuchter
            • Blog-Serie zur Wissenschaftsfreiheit
            • Save the dates – Fellowtreffen 2021 und 2022
            • Neue Publikationen in der Fellowbibliothek
            • Preise
            • Mitgliedschaft im Fellowclub
            • Obituarium
          • März 2020
            • Editorial
            • Verfassung als gewaltlose Revolution
            • Imre Kertész und die europäische Literatur der Gegenwart
            • Es sind die Verluste, welche die Polen umtreiben
            • Das Kolleg und der Osten – das New Europe College in Bukarest
            • Save the date - Fellowtreffen: Biodiversity: Conceptual Challenges in an Era of Rapid Change 11./12.Juni 2020
            • Neue Publikationen in der Fellowbibliothek
            • Preise
            • Mitgliedschaft im Fellowclub
            • Obituarium
          • March 2019
            • Editorial
            • Paintings for the Future
            • Landmark Papers Revisited
            • Working Futures
            • Society Benefits From Our Autonomy
            • Two Million Blossoms in a Jar
            • Save the Date - Meeting of the Fellows' Club: June 13-14, 2019
            • Lectures on Film
            • New Publications in the Fellows' Library
            • Preise
            • Join the Fellows' Club
            • Obituaries
          • März 2018
            • Editorial
            • A Good Bet: Five Years of the College for Life Sciences
            • Lectures on Film: Lisa Herzog
            • Return to Gdańsk
            • Sign the Gdansk Petition
            • Lecture Series: "Recht und Digitalisierung"
            • The Future of the Humboldt Forum: An Epiphany
            • (Almost) A Lifer
            • Late Checkout
            • Save the Date - Fellowtreffen
            • Preise
            • New Publications in the Fellows' Library
            • Obi­tu­a­ri­um
          • March 2017
            • Editorial
            • Luca Giuliani: Facets of Stephen
            • Berliner Abend 2017
            • Michael Jennions: Walking Berlin
            • Nostalgia
            • Prizes
          • June 2016
            • Editorial
            • Daniel M. Weary: Three days at Wiko to imagine a new world
            • Katharina Wiedemann: Travelling Lights
            • William Marx: The Rising of Kaspar Hauser
            • Luc Steels: Grunewaldkirche, Bach, and Passions
            • Nostalgia
          • June 2015
            • Editorial
            • Adam S. Wilkins: Humanities and Natural Sciences
            • Rob Page: The Decline of the Humanities?
            • Alfons Söllner: From "Exilforschung" to "Emigrationsforschung"? A Journey in Memory.
            • Susan Rose-Ackerman and Bruce Ackerman: Wiko Then and Now: 1991-1992 and 2014-2015
            • Daniel Schönpflug: Ins Grüne
          • December 2014
            • Editorial
            • Sebastian Conrad: Global History
            • Sahotra Sarkar, Chris Margules: Biodiversity group at the Kolleg
            • Reinhart Meyer-Kalkus: On Uwe Pörksen: Camelot im Grunewald. Szenen aus dem intellektuellen Leben der achtziger Jahre
            • Meredith Reiches: "Literary studies and biology: The Shakespeare-Workshops at the Kolleg 2012 and 2013"
            • Simon Teuscher: Workshop: Perspectives on Actors in Social History
            • Gebhard Kirchgässner: Workshop “The Economic Model of Human Behaviour”
            • Gerald Wilkinson: Workshop “Mind the Gap: Closing the Gulf between Genomic and Phenotypic Studies of Sexual Selection”
            • Sonja Grund: News from the Fellows’ Club
          • May 2014
            • Editorial
            • Peter Reill: From the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin to Wiko: Reflections on a Return after Twenty-Seven Years
            • Reinhart Meyer-Kalkus:Why artists are needed at research institutions
            • Martin Loughlin: Constitutions beyond the Nation-State
            • Franco Moretti: Invisible objects
            • Stefanie Rentsch: The Forum Transregionale Studien – its Mission and History
          • November 2013
            • Editorial
            • Jim Hunt: Ten Years in the Rearview Mirror
            • Thorsten Wilhelmy: My First Year at the Wissenschaftskolleg
            • Giovanni Frazzetto: The College for Life Sciences at the Wissenschaftskolleg
            • Reinhart Meyer-Kalkus: The Fellow Forum for Former Fellows
      • Fellow Forum
  • Veranstaltungen
    • Veranstaltungskalender
    • Workshops
    • Veranstaltungsreihen
      • Gesprächskonzerte
      • Zur Zeit
      • Observatorium
      • Ernst Mayr Lecture
    • Three Cultures Forum
  • Wikothek
    • Wiko Shorts
    • Lectures & Keynotes
    • Features
    • Köpfe und Ideen
    • Arbeitsvorhaben
    • Jahrbuch
    • Zeitschrift für Ideengeschichte
  • Fellow werden
    • Individuelle Fellowships
    • College for Life Sciences
      • Program
      • Application
      • Fellows
      • Scientific Committee
      • FAQ
    • Leben und Arbeiten
      • Finanzielle Regelungen
      • Wohnungen
      • Wissenschaftliches Leben
      • Dienste für Fellows
      • Dienste für Partnerinnen/Partner und Familien
image/svg+xml
DeutschEnglish
 Login


MENU

  • Institution
  • Fellows
  • Veranstaltungen
  • Wikothek
  • Fellow werden

  • Fellowfinder
  • Fellows 2024/2025
  • Permanent Fellows
  • Alumni

  • Fellowclub
  • Fellow Forum

Invisible objects

By Franco Moretti

I was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg in 1999-2000; then, I was lucky enough to return for another year, in 2012-13. Thirteen years. Enough to change many things, in one’s individual life. But in this case, the years also brought important changes in the intellectual discipline – broadly speaking, literary and cultural history – within which I work. As I write, such cheanges are known under the passe-partout name of “digital humanities”. Not the best definition, in my opinion; “computational criticism”, for one, would have been clearer; and other alternatives circulated in the past ten years or so. But when the great American funding agency – the National Endowment for the Humanities – decided to call one of its subsections “digital humanities”, the game was over. It’s the sign of a major, and dangerous, novelty: the key role played by grants – “soft money” – in the humanities as a whole. More on this towards the end.

Digital humanities, then. Literary historians, using computers to think about literature. And the first thing that happens, is that the object of study changes. Not just the tool, which is obvious; the object itself. "The objects studied by contemporary historians” have this peculiarity, Krzysztof Pomian observed some time ago, that “no one has ever seen them, and no one could ever have seen them […] because they have no equivalent within lived experience”. He was thinking of things like demographic evolution and literacy rates, and it’s true, no one can have a “lived experience” of these “invisible objects”, as he also calls them; our objects are different of course, they are literary ones, but they too have no equivalent within the usual experience of literature.

So what are they like, these objects we study in the Stanford Literary Lab, which I founded, with a handful of PhD students, in 2010? They are things like – this: figure 1. This image comes from our recent collective pamphlet, “Style at the Scale of the Sentence”, which was finished, in a whirlwind of emails and skype meetings, during the Fall of my year at the Wiko, and that can be found at the Lab’s website. Here, let me just say that the chart shows how four types of significant narrative clauses, indicated by the red lines, can be differentiated on the basis of the relative frequency of a certain number of words, in green and gold; we spent quite a few hours trying to understand the logic behind this distribution, and others like it. These are the objects we study. Or this: figure 2. The red segments at the bottom express the declining presence of loud speaking verbs (“cried”, “roared”, “screamed”…), hence the "silencing" of the 19th-century English novel that 21-year old Holst Katsma discovered in our database. This is what our objects are like. And, truly, no one had ever seen them, because they exist on a different scale from that at which we typically experience literature: one that is simultaneously much bigger and much smaller than the usual: three thousand novels, and a handful of words for loudness; or, as in figure 3, the eleven different literary genres represented by the colored word strips, and the twenty-odd verb forms indicated by the black vectors. No one experiences literature as a scatterplot of verb forms and genres. Reading a novel; watching a play; memorizing a sonnet: this is the lived experience of literature. Instead, here literature is de-composed into its extremes; but this radical reduction also allows us to see a relationship between the very small and the very large that would otherwise remain hidden: how crucial the passive past simple is for the rhetoric of Gothic novels, for instance, or progressive tenses for the Bildungsroman. And it’s not just a matter of “seeing” the relationship; you can work on it: change the variables; use adjectives instead of verbs to test if they differentiate genres better; exclude function words or include them. You can conduct small experiments with historical evidence. This says something important about the new object of study: it is not something we have found somewhere (in an archive, say); it’s something we have constructed for a specific purpose; it’s not a given, it’s the result of a new practice. A new type of work that, before the advent of digital corpora and tools, was simply unimaginable.

Which brings me to a question I have often been asked, and rightly so: will the humanities of the digital age lose what has so powerfully characterized them – the experience of reading a book from beginning to end? And, I don’t want to answer for the humanities in general, but for those of us in digital literary studies the answer has to be, Yes: reading a book from beginning to end loses its centrality, because it no longer constitutes the foundation of knowledge. Our objects are much bigger than a book, or much smaller than a book, and in fact usually both things at once; but they’re almost never a book. The pact with the digital has a price, which is this drastic loss of "measure". Books are so human-sized; now that right size is gone. It’s a loss that seems to be a necessary consequence of the new approach.

Now, let me be clear, this does not mean that literary critics, let alone readers in general, shouldn't read books any more. Reading is one of the greatest pleasures of life, it would be insane to give it up. What is at stake is not reading, it’s the continuity between the experience of reading of a book and the production of knowledge. That’s the point. I read a lot of books; but when I work in the Literary Lab they’re not the basis of my work. The “lived experience” of literature no longer morphs into knowledge, as in Ricoeur’s great formula of the “hermeneutic of listening", where understanding consists in hearing what the text has to say. In our work we don't listen, we ask questions; and we ask them of large corpora, not of individual texts. It’s a completely different epistemology.

Do we not read at all, then? Well, not exactly. You may have noticed a crazy outlier at the top of the third chart; there, each of the strips indicates a set of two hundred narrative sentences from a novel, and that one, from the early chapters of Middlemarch, was so extreme that we of course took those two hundred sentences and read them very very carefully. The question is: while doing so, were we reading Middlemarch? I don’t think so. The sentences came from Middlemarch, yes, but they couldn’t be “read” like one reads a novel because they were not continuous with each other; rather, they formed a series only on the basis of a grammatical peculiarity we wanted to investigate. No one could have ever “seen” them together while reading Middlemarch. We were “studying” Middlemarch, but not “reading” it.

The objects have changed, and the scale has changed, and the type of work, and of knowledge, and the relationship to reading. And this of course raises all sorts of further questions, many of which were indeed asked during my 2013 Dienstagskolloquium. Are the old and the new type of knowledge – in conflict? Complementary? Independent of each other? And the study of these new objects – what exactly has it achieved? So many changes … But have they really changed literary history?

Let’s keep it simple: not much. In part, we haven’t yet had much time to do our work. Plus, grant-funding agencies, by rewarding “promise-the-moon-by-tomorrow” projects, are in their own way hindering genuine research, instead of promoting it. But the main reason lies elsewhere: unlike most critical schools, the digital humanities have not been inaugurated by a major theoretical statement – “Die syntaktischen Errungenschaften der Symbolisten”, “Iskusstvo kak priëm”, Sur Racine, Orientalism – but by the increasing digitization of books, and the development of text-mining algorithms. New archives, and new computational programs: such have been the two pillars of the digital humanities up to this point, which have unquestionably enriched our idea of literary history. Enriched it; not changed. For that to happen, concepts must move to the center of the digital humanities. After the years of databases and tools – the years of hypotheses. And thirteen years from now …

  • Verein
  • Mitgliedschaft
  • Newsletter
    • März 2025
    • Februar 2024
    • Februar 2023
    • März 2022
    • Februar 2021
    • März 2020
    • March 2019
    • März 2018
    • March 2017
    • June 2016
    • June 2015
    • December 2014
    • May 2014
      • Editorial
      • Peter Reill: From the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin to Wiko: Reflections on a Return after Twenty-Seven Years
      • Reinhart Meyer-Kalkus:Why artists are needed at research institutions
      • Martin Loughlin: Constitutions beyond the Nation-State
      • Franco Moretti: Invisible objects
      • Stefanie Rentsch: The Forum Transregionale Studien – its Mission and History
    • November 2013

Institute for Advanced Study

  • Pressenotizen
  • Ansprechpartner
  • Kontakt
  • Vakanzen
  • Impressum
  • Datenschutz
  • Sitemap

Institution

  • Leitung
  • Gremien
  • Ansprechpartner
  • Das Kolleg
  • Initiativen & Kooperationen
  • Bibliothek

Fellows

  • Fellowfinder
  • Fellows 2024/2025
  • Permanent Fellows
  • Alumni

Veranstaltungen

  • Veranstaltungskalender
  • Workshops
  • Veranstaltungsreihen
  • Three Cultures Forum

Wikothek

  • Wiko Shorts
  • Lectures & Keynotes
  • Features
  • Köpfe und Ideen
  • Arbeitsvorhaben
  • Jahrbuch
  • Zeitschrift für Ideengeschichte

Fellow werden

  • Individuelle Fellowships
  • College for Life Sciences
  • Leben und Arbeiten