English-Homer
Homer’s Living Network: A Digital Humanities Investigation
Daniel Barrera Rivera
University of Tübingen
Theorizing Translation as Cultural Network
This digital humanities project interrogates the transformation of Homer’s Odyssey across four centuries of English literary production, positioning translation not as mere linguistic transfer but as a complex site of cultural negotiation and literary reinvention. Through computational analysis of over eighty English renderings—from Chapman’s 1615 pioneering work to contemporary feminist and postcolonial reinterpretations—this research reveals how successive translations construct a “Homeric rhizome”: a non-hierarchical network where each new rendering simultaneously responds to the Greek source and the accumulated English tradition.
Methodological Framework
The project deploys a multi-method computational approach that bridges quantitative linguistics, cultural analytics, and translation theory. By analyzing lexical diversity patterns and etymological preferences. I seek to empirically demonstrate how the target language progressively functions as its own source culture—–a phenomenon that fundamentally challenges traditional translation studies paradigms—–: target is the new source.
Current Research Phase: Lexical Analysis
The analysis currently focuses on six twentieth and twenty-first century translations, employing Virginia Woolf’s modernist prose as a baseline for contemporary English literary expression
Research Report - Synthesizing findings across computational methods
Primary Investigations
Notebook A: Quantitative Stylistics
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- Type-Token Ratio analysis with mixed-effects modeling
- Zipf’s Law adherence and linguistic naturalization
- TF-IDF semantic clustering
Notebook B: Etymological Archaeology
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- Deep etymological tracking through 6M+ word relationships
- Anglo-Saxon versus Latinate register analysis
- Cultural positioning through lexical archaeology
Theoretical Interventions
This research operates at the intersection of multiple theoretical frameworks:
- Translation as Rhizomatic Network: Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of the rhizome, we conceptualize English Odysseys as non-hierarchical multiplicities where each translation creates new lines of flight
- Computational Hermeneutics: Employing distant reading methodologies (Moretti, 2013) while maintaining philological rigor
- Cultural Sway Theory: Quantifying how cultural and ideological forces shape translator decisions through measurable linguistic patterns
Preliminary Findings
Our computational analysis reveals surprising patterns that complicate linear narratives of translation history:
- Temporal Disruption: Rather than evolutionary progression, translations cluster by philosophical approach regardless of chronological period
- Etymological Unconscious: Translators demonstrate measurable but likely unconscious preferences for Anglo-Saxon versus Latinate vocabulary that correlate with stated translation philosophies
- Network Effects: Contemporary translations show 62-73% lexical overlap, suggesting emergent stabilization of an “English Homer” vocabulary
Archive of Experiments
Comparative Statistical Analysis
- Type-Token Ratio Studies
- Zipf’s Law Investigation
- TF-IDF Semantic Analysis
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Etymology Studies A Etymology Studies B
Initial Proof of Concept
MVP: Wilson-Green Comparative Analysis - Establishing methodological viability through focused comparison
Documentation
- Research Questions - Core theoretical and empirical inquiries
- Methodological Design - Computational and theoretical frameworks
- Bibliography – Texts referenced, consulted, and composted in this work
- Corpus Documentation - Translation corpus specifications
- XML Schema - Technical infrastructure
- Project Structure - Complete repository organization
Scholarly Context
This investigation emerges from the productive tensions between classical reception studies, digital humanities methodologies, and contemporary translation theory. By applying computational methods to literary history, we seek not merely to quantify aesthetic phenomena but to reveal how cultural transmission operates through measurable yet complex linguistic patterns.
The project ultimately argues for reconceptualizing literary tradition not as linear inheritance but as rhizomatic network—a living system where each new iteration transforms the entire field of relations.
Contact
Daniel Barrera Rivera
Researcher of Entangled Narratologies and Compost-Conscious Sciences
Master English Literatures and Cultures
University of Tübingen
Email: neophilology@gmail.com
GitHub: github.com/neophilology
Last Updated: September 2025