Between Waves and Trees: Digital Humanities and Comparative Reading of Texts

Digital humanities point to the digital tool as the instrument of such a deep transformation in culture as that brought about by the invention of the printing press in the era of humanism. They transform comparative literature by allowing the analysis of very large corpora. Franco Moretti uses the image of waves, as opposed to that of trees, to contrast the approach of comparative literature, based on large corpora, to that of national literatures. But Ana Paula Coutinho objects that the digital tool should not lose the pleasure of reading and the detailed analysis allowed by "close reading": she thus speaks of "bifocal glasses" to characterize the ideal of comparative approach. If Carlos Fuentes condemns the idea of a unique type of reading, the digital humanities also transform the very idea of literature by allowing hyperfiction, demonstrating that literature is not limited to its textual dimension. Digital humanities thus make it possible to rethink comparative literature, reading, but also the very notion of literature.