Shakespeare, the Early Modern Theatre and Computational Stylistics

FAIN: RZ-50044-03

University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Amherst, MA 01003-9242)
Arthur F. Kinney (Project Director: August 2002 to November 2007)

a book-length study addressing problems central to Shakespearean studies such as attribution of works, chronology, and literary influences through computational stylistics. (24 months)

The investigators aim to answer some central questions in Shakespearean drama through a collaborative study combining computational and traditional methods. They will explore areas not hitherto studied with computational means, such as the nature of collaboration in the drama writing of the period, and intertextual relations between source materials and plays, as well as long-standing questions in authorship and dating. Statistical and corpus-based results will be aligned with scholarly-critical evidence to provide findings of exceptional authority, and to establish a new paradigm for humanities research. The main outcome will be a jointly authored book.