Quantitative Literary Analysis of the Works of Aphra Behn

Aphra Behn (16401689), prolific and popular playwright, poet, novelist, translator, has a fascinating and extensive corpus of literature that plays a key role in literary history. Quantitative Literary Analysis of the Works of Aphra Behn: Words of Passion offers what no book has done to date, an analysis of all Behns literary output. It examines the authors use of words in terms of frequencies and distributions and stacks the words in context to read Behns word usage synchronically. Using this experimental method, the book brings digital humanities into literary criticism, to enhance our understanding and appreciation of literature beyond what is possible in diachronic reading and scholarship less supported by digital means. The empirical approach works in collaboration with existing scholarship to understand Behns distinct language of love and extreme passions across her genres.