A New Life: Textual Investigations
Project Overview:
This project is composed of two parts:
- The first is a visualization of the interactions between Levin and the other characters in A New Life. Given that much of the book's conflict revolves around information (or the lack thereof), this visualization intends to give insight into how power dynamics between characters shift over the course of the novel as they learn new information and begin to strive towards their own goals and agendas. The visualization effectively charts the metadata of the conversations in A New Life; readers can choose to view graphs based around specific characters or based around specific types of interactions between characters. For example, a reader can choose to view graphs of interactions between Levin and Pauline, or graphs where Levin asks for information from other characters. The graphs aim to portray overall relationships by presenting these specific instances in aggregate form from a macro perspective.
- The second aims to find specific textual differences between the 2nd edition manuscript and the published novel and analyze them through close reading. This will complement the meta-analysis of Part One by offering concrete examples of how Malamud's refinements reflect his attempts to create power dynamics via the use of information in A New Life. Readers should therefore also have the opportunity in this section to analyze how character relations change not only over the course of the novel, but how they change between editions as well.
Analysis Methodologies:
A key methodology for this project is that close reading and distant reading can be used in tandem rather than in opposition to one another. Distant reading can give us quantified larger trends that close reading can only approximate at best, while close reading can also inform our interpretations of "the bigger picture." More importantly, these relationships are fluid and work both ways rather than existing as one-way streets. Take this anecdote as an example:
Reading through Malamud's A New Life led us to realize that Levin's laughter is described as "broken" in the novel during situations where he feels defeated or awkward. So, out of curiosity, we decided to use quantitative analysis to get at potentially deeper insights. Searching for "brokenly" through Voyant led to the following visualization:
Interestingly, the word "brokenly" appears three times in the text, and it's used as a description for laughter in each instance. ("Brokenly was used rather than "broken" since "broken" was associated with too many situations other than laughter in the novel to produce relevant data.) But diving back into the text revealed an interesting behavior: the first two instances of laughing "brokenly" refer to Levin's laughter, but the final instance refers to Gilley's laughter. While arguably minor, this nuance is something that gives more insight into the shifts in power dynamics between Levin and Gilley throughout A New Life, and it's a nuanced that would have gone unnoticed without the benefit of both close and distant reading.
While this project operates under the general assumption that information correlates to power in A New Life, it does not intend to force the reader into specific conclusions related to the specifics of those power dynamics. Instead it hopes to more readily enable the reader to make their own conclusions and interpretations through both close and distant reading.
