Ciphering Dostoevsky: Using Computers to Compare Novelistic Narrators

• In Event: Dostoevsky in the Digital Age

Abstract

This paper uses the computational method of stylometry to compare narrative voice across Dostoevsky’s major novels. Stylometry compares word frequency across specific counts of words to determine similarity. This method has been used to determine the likely authorship of disputed anonymous texts (including by Dostoevsky), or the likely authorial contribution of unnamed co-authors or collaborators (such as editors) on a text. However, the authors argue that this method might be used to compare Dostoevsky’s narrative voices both across and within works. For example, Miller argues (1981) that The Idiot has four distinct narrative voices. Are these voices truly distinct? Are any of them similar to other Dostoevskian narrators? How does Dostoevsky’s omniscient narrator differ from his character narrators? And does the narrated epilogue of Crime and Punishment match the rest of the novel? The authors will discuss the pros and cons of computational methods like stylometry for doing close analysis of literary texts.

Authors

• Katherine Bowers, U of British Columbia (Canada)

• Kate Rowan Holland, U of Toronto (Canada)