https://github.com/rileyjshaw/if-on-a-winters-night
https://github.com/rileyjshaw/if-on-a-winters-night
Last synced: 5 months ago
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- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/rileyjshaw/if-on-a-winters-night
- Owner: rileyjshaw
- Created: 2016-09-13T19:21:38.000Z (about 9 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2016-09-13T19:21:44.000Z (about 9 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-02-01T07:22:37.305Z (10 months ago)
- Size: 1000 Bytes
- Stars: 1
- Watchers: 3
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
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Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
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README
I asked Lotaria if she has already read some books of mine that I lent her. She
said no, because here she doesn’t have a computer at her disposal.
She explained to me that a suitably programmed computer can read a novel in a
few minutes and record the list of all the words contained in the text, in
order of frequency. “That way I can have an already completed reading at hand,”
Lotaria says, “with an incalculable saving of time. What is the reading of a
text, in fact, except the recording of certain thematic recurrences, certain
insistences of forms and meanings? An electronic reading supplies me with a
list of the frequencies, which I have only to glance at to form an idea of the
problems the book suggests to my critical study. Naturally, at the highest
frequencies the list records countless articles, pronouns, particles, but I
don’t pay them any attention. I head straight for the words richest in meaning;
they can give me a fairly precise notion of the book.”
Lotaria brought me some novels electronically transcribed, in the form of words
listed in the order of their frequency. “In a novel of fifty to a hundred
thousand words,” she said to me, “I advise you to observe immediately the words
that are repeated about twenty times. Look here. Words that appear nineteen
times: “blood, cartridge belt, commander, do, have, immediately, it, life,
seen, sentry, shots, spider, teeth, together, your…” “Words that appear
eighteen times: “boys, cap, come, dead, eat, enough, evening, French, go,
handsome, new, passes, period, potatoes, those, until…”
“Don’t you already have a clear idea what it’s about?” Lotaria says. “There’s
no question: it’s a war novel, all actions, brisk writing, with a certain
underlying violence. The narration is entirely on the surface, I would say; but
to make sure, it’s always a good idea to take a look at the list of words used
only once, though no less important for that. Take this sequence, for example:
“underarm, underbrush, undercover, underdog, underfed, underfoot, undergo,
undergraduate, underground, undergrowth, underhand, underprivileged,
undershirt, underwear, underweight…”
“No, the book isn’t completely superficial, as it seemed. There must be
something hidden; I can direct my research along these lines.”