The document discusses the application of topic modeling and machine learning techniques in literary analysis, primarily focusing on modernist texts. It outlines methods for preprocessing data, identifying thematic patterns, and clustering novels based on their topics. Additionally, it highlights the challenges of making these machine-generated topics interpretable for literary critique.

1. Topic Modeling
for Literary
AnalysisBig Modernism
Belaid Moa, PhD
Computing Specialist, Compute Canada
Jana Millar Usiskin
PhD Student, Department of English

2. THE Challenge

3. THE
PROCESS

4. If text analysis is to participate in
literary critical endeavor in some
manner beyond fact-checking, it
must endeavor to assist the
critic in the unfolding of
interpretive possibilities.
[. . .] The evidence we seek is not
definitive, but suggestive of
grander arguments and
schemes.
Stephen Ramsay
Interpretive
Possibilities
DEFINING

5. The Data Set
AGGREGATING

6. metadata (xml) text (txt)
PreprocessING
cleaning text

7. PreprocessING
prepping for maximum interpretation

8. Learn from seen (large) data
Patterns, Properties, etc.
Perform well on unseen (large)
data
Predict
Decide
Classify
“Torture data” just right
What is Machine
Learning?
Analyzing

9. As simple as
possible but not
simpler.
Machine
Learning

10. Machine Learning
Process

11. Categorization
Machine
Learning
Labeled data
Unlabeled data
Rewarded data

12. Probabilistic/Bayesian
Learning
Unsupervised
Learning

13. Topic Modeling
BAYESIAN Learning
Find hidden (thematic)
patterns/topics in documents
Produce labels according to the
patterns
Understand, organize, search
and summarize the collection of
documents

14. Simple Idea!
process
Topic
1
Topic
1
Topic
3
Topic
2
Mrs
Dalloway
Mrs
Dalloway
UlyssesUlysses
house
Time
man
Child
Day

15. Documents as a
mixture of topics
LDA
Document 1
Document 2

16. Topics as a mixture
of words
LDA
Topic 1
arabs 0.023
army 0.016
railway 0.0146
day 0.0144
….
Topic 2
God 0.020
Father 0.0160
soul 0.0135
Sin 0.0080
Priest 0.00798
….
Topic 3
time 0.0129
father 0.0107
Sister 0.00677
room 0.00676
House 0.0066
….

17. Topics as
distributions on
words
LDA
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3

18. Generative Process
LDA
For each topic Tp,
a)Choose a distribution pTpover
words
For each novel Li:
Choose a distribution pLi over K
topics
for each word in Li:
a) Draw one of the K topics, Tj,
according to pLi
b) Draw one of the V words according
to pTj

21. LDA Novels
LDA
children room room room people house house room
afternoon doctor afternoon children room house
children house doctor girl afternoon house night doctor
room children afternoon children room house afternoon
children
Novel 1
room afternoon doctor children house afternoon night
children children children children room house
afternoon people doctor house house doctor room
doctor afternoon doctor room room house doctor
afternoon children room
Novel 2

22. Graphical Model
LDA
N
D
K

23. For Big Modernism
LDA
LDA
(mallet train-topics …)
LDA
(mallet train-topics …)
CorpusCorpus
FilterFilter
Topic & word
Distributions
Topic & word
Distributions
ExplorationExploration

24. Processing
streamlined script

25. Though the machine does a very
good job in identifying the topics
latent in a corpus, the machine
does a comparatively poor job
when it comes to auto-identifying
which of the harvest topics are
the most interpretable by human
beings.
- Matt Jockers, Macroanalysis
Interpretation
post-
processing

26. 3
SENSORY
EXPERIENC
E OF
TEMPORALI
TY
time felt day
looked knew
work face
hand night
18
TIME
EMBODIED
eyes face life
time white
dark round
hand head
26
INHABITIN
G SPACES
men people
began room
house talk
suddenly end
years
TOPIC INDEX
Modernist Novels

28. Time
Embodied
Inhabiting
Everyday
Spaces
POST-
PROCESSING
Labeling Most
Modernist Topics
Sensory
Experience
of
Temporality

29. Sensory Experience
of Temporality
POST-
PROCESSING

30. Sensory Experience
of Temporality
POST-
PROCESSING

31. Inhabiting Spaces
POST-
PROCESSING

32. Inhabiting Spaces
POST-
PROCESSING

33. Time Embodied
POST-
PROCESSING

34. Time Embodied
POST-
PROCESSING

35. POST-PROCESSING
Distribution Table

36. Heart of Darkness >>> Lord Jim
 0.052
Heart of Darkness >>> Secret Agent
 0.809
Lord Jim >>> Secret Agent
 0.729
Mrs. Dalloway >>> The Waves
 0.586
The Great Gatsby >>> Tender is the Night
 0.132
Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas >>> Three Lives
 6.993
POST-PROCESSING
Author Distances

37. Top 10 Generic
Modernist Novels
POST-
PROCESSING
The Ambassadors
Howard’s End
Twilight Sleep
The Captive
The Good Soldier
The Awakening
Lord Jim
The Waves
Heart of Darkness

38. Top 10 Generic
Modernist Novels
POST-
PROCESSING
Mrs. Dalloway
The Ambassadors
Howard’s End
Twilight Sleep
The Captive
The Good Soldier
The Awakening
Lord Jim
The Waves
Heart of Darkness

39. Top 10 Unique
Modernist Novels
POST-
PROCESSING
Seven Pillars
The Trial
Babbitt
The Autobiography of Alice B.
Toklas
Three Lives
Time Regained
Nightwood
1984
Passage to India

40. Top 10 Unique
Modernist Novels
POST-
PROCESSING
Ulysses
Seven Pillars
The Trial
Babbitt
The Autobiography of Alice B.
Toklas
Three Lives
Time Regained
Nightwood
1984
Passage to India

41. Clustering
Machine
Learning

42. Affinity Propagation
Clustering

43. Affinity Propagation
Clustering

44. Affinity Propagation
Clustering
Exemplar

46. Cluster 1, exemplar Tender is the Night:
The Awakening (Chopin), Heart of Darkness (Conrad), Lord Jim (Conrad), The Secret Agent
(Conrad), The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald), Tender is the Night (Fitzgerald), The Trial (Kafka),
Babbitt (S. Lewis), Tarr (W. Lewis), 1984 (Orwell), Burmese Days (Orwell), The Autobiography
of Alice B. Toklas (Stein), Twilight Sleep (Wharton)
Cluster 2, exemplar Ulysses:
Nightwood (Barnes), A Passage to India (Forster), Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Hardy), The
Dubliners (Joyce), Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Joyce), Ulysses (Joyce)
Cluster 3, exemplar Seven Pillars of Wisdom:
Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Lawrence)
Cluster 4, exemplar Time Regained:
The Ambassadors (James), The Captive (Proust), Time Regained (Proust)
Cluster 5, exemplar Mrs. Dalloway:
The Good Soldier (Ford), Howard’s End (Forster), Sons and Lovers (Lawrence), Women in
Love (Lawrence), Of Human Bondage (Maugham), Three Lives (Stein), The Picture of Dorian
Gray (Wilde), Mrs. Dalloway (Woolf), The Waves (Woolf)
POST-PROCESSING
MODERNISM SUB-CLUSTERS

47. Cluster 1, exemplar Tender is the Night:
The Awakening (Chopin), Heart of Darkness (Conrad), Lord Jim (Conrad), The Secret Agent
(Conrad), The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald), Tender is the Night (Fitzgerald), The Trial (Kafka),
Babbitt (S. Lewis), Tarr (W. Lewis), 1984 (Orwell), Burmese Days (Orwell), The Autobiography
of Alice B. Toklas (Stein), Twilight Sleep (Wharton)
Cluster 2, exemplar Ulysses:
Nightwood (Barnes), A Passage to India (Forster), Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Hardy), The
Dubliners (Joyce), Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Joyce), Ulysses (Joyce)
Cluster 3, exemplar Seven Pillars of Wisdom:
Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Lawrence)
Cluster 4, exemplar Time Regained:
The Ambassadors (James), The Captive (Proust), Time Regained (Proust)
Cluster 5, exemplar Mrs. Dalloway:
The Good Soldier (Ford), Howard’s End (Forster), Sons and Lovers (Lawrence), Women in
Love (Lawrence), Of Human Bondage (Maugham), Three Lives (Stein), The Picture of Dorian
Gray (Wilde), Mrs. Dalloway (Woolf), The Waves (Woolf)
POST-PROCESSING
MODERNISM SUB-CLUSTERS

48. Affinity Propagation
on Modernism
POST-
PROCESSING

49. Affinity Propagation
on Modernism
POST-
PROCESSING

51. 10
GIFTS and
SOCIETY
give felt time
father mind
people speak
present poor
26
EMBODIED
TIME
time face hand
eyes day looked
place house
turned
17
FAMILY
RELATIONS
sister family
mother friend
manner feelings
time morning
father
27
BODIES IN
SPACE
night half round
room eye eyes
sat heard head
TOPIC INDEX
19th
-Century Novels

52. Sensory Experience
of Temporality
POST-
PROCESSING
Family
Relations
Embodied
Time
Gifts and
Social
Relations

53. Cluster 1, exemplar Emma (Austen):
Emma (Austen), Pride and Prejudice (Austen), Persuasion (Austen)
Cluster 2, exemplar Villette (Brontë):
Jane Eyre (Brontë), Villette (Brontë)
Cluster 3, exemplar A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens):
A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
Cluster 4, exemplar Great Expectations (Dickens):
Great Expectations (Dickens), Oliver Twist (Dickens), North and South (Gaskell), The Portrait
of a Lady (James), The Turn of the Screw (James)
Cluster 5, exemplar Middlemarch (Eliot):
Middlemarch (Eliot), Silas Marner (Eliot), The Mill on the Floss (Eliot), The Return of the
Native (Eliot)
POST-PROCESSING
MODERNISM SUB-CLUSTERS

54. 47
TIME
EMBODIED
face eyes time
hand head
night house
turned looked
18
WOMEN,
TIME, AND
SPACE
time day mind
room woman
life years place
heard
8
SENSORY
INTERPRETATI
ON
felt sense fact
question face
life present
eyes light
TOPICS
Modernism and 19th
-Century Novels

55. Cluster 1, exemplar Tender is the Night:
 Nightwood, The Awakening, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Great Gatsby, Tender is the
Night, Babbitt, Tarr, 1984, The Captive, Time Regained, The Autobiography of Alice B.
Toklas, Twilight Sleep
Cluster 2, exemplar A Passage to India:
 The Good Soldier, A Passage to India, The Trial, Burmese Days
Cluster 3, exemplar Ulysses:
 The Secret Agent, Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist, Ulysses, North and South
Cluster 4, exemplar Seven Pillars of Wisdom:
 Seven Pillars of Wisdom
Cluster 5, exemplar Mrs. Dalloway:
 Howard’s End, Women in Love, Sons and Lovers, Of Human Bondage, Three Lives, The
Picture of Dorian Gray, Mrs. Dalloway, The Waves
Cluster 6, exemplar Emma:
 Emma, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice
Cluster 7, exemplar Great Expectations:
 A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist
Cluster 8, exemplar Silas Marner:
 Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Middlemarch, Silas Marner, The Mill on the Floss, Return of the
Native
Cluster 9, exemplar The Turn of the Screw:
 The Ambassadors, The Turn of the Screw, Jane Eyre, Villette, The Portrait of a Lady, The Turn
of the Screw
POST-PROCESSING
MODERNISM AND 19th
-CENTURY SUB-CLUSTERS

56. Cluster 1, exemplar Tender is the Night:
 Nightwood, The Awakening, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Great Gatsby, Tender is the
Night, Babbitt, Tarr, 1984, The Captive, Time Regained, The Autobiography of Alice B.
Toklas, Twilight Sleep
Cluster 2, exemplar A Passage to India:
 The Good Soldier, A Passage to India, The Trial, Burmese Days
Cluster 3, exemplar Ulysses:
 The Secret Agent, Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist, Ulysses, North and South
Cluster 4, exemplar Seven Pillars of Wisdom:
 Seven Pillars of Wisdom
Cluster 5, exemplar Mrs. Dalloway:
 Howard’s End, Women in Love, Sons and Lovers, Of Human Bondage, Three Lives, The
Picture of Dorian Gray, Mrs. Dalloway, The Waves
Cluster 6, exemplar Emma:
 Emma, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice
Cluster 7, exemplar Great Expectations:
 A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist
Cluster 8, exemplar Silas Marner:
 Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Middlemarch, Silas Marner, The Mill on the Floss, Return of the
Native
Cluster 9, exemplar The Turn of the Screw:
 The Ambassadors, The Turn of the Screw, Jane Eyre, Villette, The Portrait of a Lady, The Turn
of the Screw
POST-PROCESSING
MODERNISM AND 19th
-CENTURY SUB-CLUSTERS

57. Cluster 1, exemplar Tender is the Night:
The Awakening, The Great Gatsby, The Good Soldier, Howard’s End, A Passage to
India, The Ambassadors, The Trial, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Women in Love,
Babbitt, Tarr, Of Human Bondage, 1984, Burmese Days, The Captive, Time
Regained, The Autobiography of Alice B., Three Lives, Emma, Persuasion, Pride and
Prejudice, Middlemarch, The Mill on the Floss, The Portrait of a Lady, The Turn of
the Screw
Cluster 2, exemplar Ulysses:
Nightwood, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, Tess of the
D’Urbervilles, Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist, Sons and Lovers, Twilight Sleep, The
Picture of Dorian Gray, Mrs. Dalloway, The Waves, Jane Eyre, Villette, A Tale of Two
Cities, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, Silas Marner, North and South, Return of
the Native
POST-PROCESSING
MODERNISM AND 19th
-CENTURY SUB-CLUSTERS

58. Cluster 1, exemplar Tender is the Night:
The Awakening, The Great Gatsby, The Good Soldier, Howard’s End, A Passage to
India, The Ambassadors, The Trial, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Women in Love,
Babbitt, Tarr, Of Human Bondage, 1984, Burmese Days, The Captive, Time
Regained, The Autobiography of Alice B., Three Lives, Emma, Persuasion, Pride and
Prejudice, Middlemarch, The Mill on the Floss, The Portrait of a Lady, The Turn of
the Screw
Cluster 2, exemplar Ulysses:
Nightwood, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, Tess of the
D’Urbervilles, Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist, Sons and Lovers, Twilight Sleep, The
Picture of Dorian Gray, Mrs. Dalloway, The Waves, Jane Eyre, Villette, A Tale of Two
Cities, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, Silas Marner, North and South, Return of
the Native
POST-PROCESSING
MODERNISM AND 19th
-CENTURY SUB-CLUSTERS

59. Mystery Novels
INFERENCE
Example: Given X.txt, Y.txt, and Z.txt novels,
find the closest novel

60. Profiling the texts
INFERENCE
Mystery
Texts
X
Y
Z
Mystery Texts, Topic Inference

61. INFERENCE
Similarity to other
novels

62. Modernist Versions Project
Compute Canada
Maker Lab in the Humanities
Contact info:
Belaid Moa
bmoa@uvic.ca
Jana Millar Usiskin
janamu@uvic.ca
@jana_mu
Thank you