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Aphra Behn (1640–1689), prolific and popular playwright, poet, novelist, translator, has a fascinating and extensive corpus of literature that plays a key role in literary history. Quantitative Literary Analysis of the Works of Aphra Behn: Words of Passion offers what no book has done to date, an analysis of all Behn’s literary output. It examines the author’s use of words in terms of frequencies and distributions and stacks the words in context to read Behn’s word usage synchronically. Using this experimental method, the book brings digital humanities into literary criticism, to enhance our understanding and appreciation of literature beyond what is possible in diachronic reading and scholarship less supported by digital means. The empirical approach works in collaboration with existing scholarship to understand Behn’s distinct language of love and extreme passions across her genres.
“This book applies quantitative literary analysis to Aphra Behn’s works across and within genres: poetry, drama and prose. Runge integrates distant reading with traditional approaches in an original way that examines Behn’s language, ideas and works in their early modern contexts while also asking us to consider how we interpret literature today.” — Dr. Laura Estill, Associate Professor of English, St. Francis Xavier University.
Acknowledgments; Note on Texts and Data; List of Figures and Tables; Preface; Introduction: Behn’s Words in Context; 1. The Poetry of Love; 2. The Drama of Sir and Love; 3. The Prose of Love; Conclusion: Words of Passion; Notes; Bibliography of Primary Works; Appendices; Index