Character Constellations

Roel Smeets is assistant professor of modern literature and digital culture at Radboud University Nijmegen.

• Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Introduction: Character Constellations 1.1.1 Example: Character Constellations in Joost Zwagerman’s De buitenvrouw (1994) and Robert Vuijsje’s Alleen maar nette mensen (2008) 1.1.2 Delineation of the Study and Research Question 1.1.3 Character Studies 1.1.4 Characterization and Character Types 1.1.5 The One Versus the Many 1.2. Critique of Representation 1.2.1 Representation and Ideology 1.2.2 Critiques of Representation in Dutch Literature 1.3. Cultural Analytics 1.3.1 Debates on Distant versus Close Reading 1.3.2 Modeling in Cultural Analytics 1.4 Methodological Background 1.4.1 Tools: Narratology and Network Analysis 1.4.2 Corpus and Data 1.4.3 Previous Research on Corpus and Dataset 1.5 Structure of the Book and Instruction for Reading Chapter 2: Data 2.1 Introduction: Descriptive Statistics 2.2 Information on the Authors 2.3 Demographic Metadata on the Characters 2.4 (In)Dependence of Variables 2.5 Relational Information 2.6 Interpretation of Descriptive Statistics Chapter 3: Centrality 3.1 Introduction: Narrative Cornerstones 3.2 Centrality in Network Theory 3.3 Centrality in Narratology 3.4 Method for Extracting Character Networks 3.4.1 Characters as Nodes 3.4.2 Character Relations as Edges 3.4.3 Automatic Extraction of Character Networks 3.5 Model I: Character Rankings 3.5.1 Results Multiple Regression Analysis 3.5.2 Close Reading: Centrality, Gender, and Descent in Özcan Akyol’s Eus (2012) 3.6 Conclusion to this Chapter Chapter 4: Community 4.1 Introduction: Narrative Connections 4.2 Community in Network Theory 4.2.1 Community Detection 4.2.2 Homophily 4.3 Community in Narratology 4.3.1 Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Collectives 4.3.2 Dialogic Interaction and Polyphony 4.4 Model I: Community Detection 4.4.1 Clauset-Newman-Moore and Girvan-Newman Algorithms 4.4.2 Kernighan-Lin Bisection Algorithm 4.4.3 Close Reading: Communities in Philip Huff ’s Niemand in de stad (2012) 4.5 Model II: Homophily 4.5.1 Dyad Assortativity 4.5.2 Close Reading: Homophily in Mensje van Keulen’s Liefde heeft geen hersens (2012) 4.6 Conclusion to this Chapter Chapter 5: Conflict 5.1 Introduction: Narrative Clashes 5.2 Conflict in Network Theory 5.3 Conflict in Narratology 1 5.4 Model I: Hierarchies in One-on-one Conflicts 5.4.1 Conflict Scores 5.4.2 Results of Multiple Linear Regression 5.4.3 Close Reading: Class Conflicts between Two Characters in Bart Koubaa’s De Brooklynclub (2012) 5.5 Model II: Social Balance in Triangular Conflicts 5.5.1 Automatic Modeling of Social Balance in Enemy/Friend triads 5.5.2 Social Balance in Leon de Winter’s VSV, of daden van onbaatzuchtigheid 5.5.3 Social Imbalance in Tommy Wieringa’s Dit zijn de namen 5.6 Conclusion to this Chapter Chapter 6: Conclusion 6.1 Findings of the Book 6.2 Public Debates on Literary Representation 6.3 Future Research Appendix A: Statistical tests Appendix B: Distribution of Relational Roles Appendix C: Main and Interaction Effects Appendix D: Pearson Correlations Notes References