Objective
The MELT project will study the macroevolution of European literature: the overarching patterns of intertextual influences in literary fiction spanning the years 1800–2000 and including all major European languages. This project will rely on the full-text digital library of unprecedented size – HathiTrust, with over 10 million full-text books – as well as on advanced methods of computational text analysis and on novel mathematical models of cultural evolution. My interdisciplinary team, consisting of scholars of digital humanities, computational linguistics, and mathematics, will construct massive dynamic networks of book history, capturing the thematic influences between athors, the emergence of new literary communities (e.g. genres), and their decay. In this way, the MELT will essentially build a gigantic “map” of European literary history, having two dimensions: geographic and temporal. In parallel, we will simulate the evolution of books, creating artificial “authors” powered by large language models. Such simulations will allow testing the robustness of our network construction methods.
The study of this massive size and scope, employing a powerful computer cluster, will allow answering many fundamental questions about literature – but also about society and politics, since literature often reflects moods and aspirations of the day. For example, what is the role of demographic turnover in the change of literary topics? How do disruptive events – wars, pandemics, and revolutions – influence the fabric of writing? What makes certain books bestselling and, as a consequence, hyper-influential? Do literary genres gradually loose their appeal due to repetetiveness? Literature occupies a central part of culture, shaping our identities and visions of the future, but our understanding of its dynamics is limited. My expertise in both comparative literature, large-scale text mining, and mathematical modeling will allow leading a team able to answer such questions.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities languages and literature linguistics
- humanities history and archaeology history
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health epidemiology pandemics
- social sciences political sciences political transitions revolutions
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
80539 MUNCHEN
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.