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Research ArticleArticles
Open Access

Unhappy Texts?

A Gendered and Computational Rereading of the Modern Breakthrough

Kirstine Nielsen Degn, Jens Bjerring-Hansen, Ali Al-Laith and Daniel Hershcovich
Scandinavian Studies, January 2025, 97 (1) 1-24; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/sca.97.1.1
Kirstine Nielsen Degn
Kirstine Nielsen Degn is a PhD-Fellow at the Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics at the University of Copenhagen.
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  • For correspondence: knd{at}hum.ku.dk
Jens Bjerring-Hansen
Jens Bjerring-Hansen is Associate Professor of Scandinavian Literature at the University of Copenhagen and Professor II at the University of Bergen.
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  • For correspondence: jbh{at}hum.ku.dk
Ali Al-Laith
Ali Al-Laith is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics at the University of Copenhagen.
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  • For correspondence: alal{at}di.ku.dk
Daniel Hershcovich
Daniel Hershcovich is Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Copenhagen.
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  • For correspondence: dh{at}di.ku.dk
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    Figure 1.

    The novel in the Modern Breakthrough. Male and female production over a thirty-year period (1870–1899).

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    Figure 2.

    The big picture. The diagram shows the distribution of sentiments juxtaposed with gender. The x-axis identifies sentiment class. The y-axis is the fraction of sentences per sentiment class.

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    Figure 3.

    Closure. This graph only consists of the endings of the novels, defined as the last 1 percent of the text.

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    Figure 4.

    Time series. The sentences are aligned with gender and year of publication.

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    Figure 5.

    A system of differences and similarities. All novels are placed in a coordinate system with positive sentiment scores on the x-axis and negative scores on the y-axis.

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    Figure 6.

    Sentiment intensity in groupings. The groupings are based on valence. Displayed at the bottom as a baseline are all 837 texts with their author-gender distribution ranging from 0 percent to 100 percent. Above, we have the author-gender distribution of the top fifty of the respectively most and least positive, negative, and neutral texts.

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    Table 1. The Most Neutral Texts—The Ten Novels with the Highest Percentage of Neutral Sentiment
    RankAuthorTitleYearNeutral (%)
    1Kristian GløersenFra Mit Friluftsliv188169
    2Herman BangLiv og Død189965
    3Herman BangStuk188763
    4Laurits JohansenTil Nordpolen pr Ballon189462
    5UnknownOlietrykmandens Frieri187961
    6Herman BangStille Eksistenser188661
    7Alexander ThorsøeInteriører Fra Det Danske Hof189761
    8Johannes JørgensenEn Fremmed189060
    9Christian KrohgEn Duel188860
    10Christian LundgaardDon Juan189659
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    Table 2. The Least Neutral Texts—The Ten Novels with the Lowest Percentage of Neutral Sentiment
    RankAuthorTitleYearNeutral (%)
    828Rosalia RosenfeldHvem af de to187822
    829Louise BjørnsenSkibladner188322
    830Theodora MauEn Formynder187422
    831Leopold BuddeEn Historie fra Fattige Steder187422
    832Drude Krog JansonMira189721
    833Otto Martin MøllerAf Elskovs Naade189620
    834Theodora MauSolstraalen187219
    835Anders J. MeldgaardPastor Brandt188819
    836Louise BjørnsenEn Kvinde189418
    837Theodora MauDeodata187113
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Scandinavian Studies: 97 (1)
Scandinavian Studies
Vol. 97, Issue 1
1 Jan 2025
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Unhappy Texts?
Kirstine Nielsen Degn, Jens Bjerring-Hansen, Ali Al-Laith, Daniel Hershcovich
Scandinavian Studies Jan 2025, 97 (1) 1-24; DOI: 10.3368/sca.97.1.1

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Unhappy Texts?
Kirstine Nielsen Degn, Jens Bjerring-Hansen, Ali Al-Laith, Daniel Hershcovich
Scandinavian Studies Jan 2025, 97 (1) 1-24; DOI: 10.3368/sca.97.1.1
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Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Introduction
    • The Modern Breakthrough and the Unhappy Text
    • Measuring Emotions, Reading at Scale
    • Sentiment Analysis
    • Affect Theory
    • Major Trends
    • Closer Readings and Sticky Relations
    • Intersectional Dynamics
    • The Least Neutral Text
    • Conclusions
    • Footnotes
    • Works Cited
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

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Keywords

  • nineteenth-century literature
  • women’s literature
  • affect theory
  • sentiment analysis
  • digital literary studies
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