The Space of Love

The Discourse of Love

This project investigates how computational tools can be used to contribute meaningfully to a long-standing discussion in literary criticism. The initial focus of the work will be on the use of computational linguistic methodologies, particularly computer-assisted discourse analysis, to the discussion of love in medieval texts, as this is an area with well-established positions that is ripe for reconsideration. By conducting discourse analysis, this study evaluates the strengths and limitations of computational approaches in medieval literary studies, probing the feasibility and intellectual value of these tools in addressing problems and debates about historical texts that have traditionally been dominated by qualitative assessments.

This research uses a multi-level discourse-analytical framework (DIMEAN) with vector-space modelling techniques of text analysis. This method will be used to explore the complex structure of interconnected texts and ideas rooted in the different meanings produced by the discourse of love. In fact, the intellectual debate at the time was often concerned with different concepts of love, which were divided into the three established categories of friendship, spiritual, or sexual love (respectively philia, agape, or eros). The proposed methodology enables me to analyze and complicate the traditional medieval distinction of love by asking new questions that explore the intricate intersection of love with conceptually related notions within the texts of numerous late medieval authors.

Which Problem?

The ubiquity of love in almost every work of the period allows me to bring many different authors into my analysis, isolate the constitutive dimension of this discourse in literary texts, and surface underlying patterns of the different nuances of love in this period with a larger dataset. Operationalizing for the first time a distant-reading approach that uses computation to look for patterns in medieval corpora of texts will help achieve a better understanding of the different facets through which love was conceptualized. The patterns identified will play a role in the partial charting of the intellectual landscape of the time, revealing how authors positioned themselves within the discourse of love.

The Implications

The importance of this research and its ramifications lies in the possibility of questioning the applicability of computational linguistic methods in interpreting medieval texts but also in assessing their intellectual merit in enriching our comprehension of historical literary discourse. This may translate into placing prominent authors such as Chaucer in a more complete understanding of his intellectual milieu, particularly with respect to the inductive nature of past studies on the matter. Through its innovative data-driven focus, this study has the potential to uncover hidden connections among intellectuals that may not be readily apparent to individual readers, therefore opening avenues for a renewed understanding and revaluation of the canon through a fresh analysis of the intellectual relationships and influences at play.