Combining Close and Distant Reading: A Multiscalar Analysis of the English Lake District's Historical Soundscape

A multiscalar approach, combining close and distant reading techniques, reveals significant shifts in the perception of sound within the English Lake District over the 18th and 19th centuries. This study introduces geographical text analysis (GTA), a novel method that leverages digital humanities tools to uncover historical-literary changes in soundscape descriptions. By analyzing a customized corpus of writings, researchers demonstrate how this approach can provide nuanced insights, bridging the gap between macroanalytic potential and detailed literary scholarship. The findings highlight the evolving relationship between sound perception and literary expression during this period.

Taylor, J. E., Gregory, I. N., & Donaldson, C. (2018). Combining Close and Distant Reading: A Multiscalar Analysis of the English Lake District’s Historical Soundscape. International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing, 12(2), 163–182. https://doi.org/10.3366/ijhac.2018.0220