ISSN:
1572-8412
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Computer Science
,
Media Resources and Communication Sciences, Journalism
Notes:
Abstract This article examines only published work directly related to the study of French literature; excluded are automatic translation, production of bibliographies or critical editions, and linguistic studies. Well before the invention of the computer, the importance of close attention to words as a prime aspect of literature had been stressed by Baudelaire, Mallarmé, and Valéry, who thus indirectly justified the several types of computer-aided studies now being done. Of these, word indexes can be useful only if the original work was poetry written in lines of fixed length. Grammatical concordances (which distinguish homographs and gather together inflected forms under one heading) have so far been produced only mechanographically; development of computer processes to produce these research tools is well advanced. The computerized alphabetical concordances, in spite of minor difficulties, are eminently usable. While it is difficult to know to what extent indexes and concordances have been used for the study of French literature, one such study, a traditional approach to Baudelaire, was facilitated and made more accurate through the use of a word index. Other possibilities, for example, the study of the evocative effect of sound patterns in poetry, are opened up by programs that transcribe poetry into phonetic symbols. use of computers has shed valuable light on authorship of anonymous articles in theEncyclopédie and has provided a clearer understanding of the techniques proper to oral literature. Unsuccessful computer-aided studies of French literature seem to fail because of insufficient sophistication in the approach to literature. Thus, it would seem that in the partnership between the literary man and the computer man, the literary man should be the dominant party.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02402178
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