Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.8, 2020

The Preliminary Practice and Academic Significance of Digital Humanities in the Study of Ancient Literature

(Abstract)

Wang Zhaopeng and Shao Dawei

Two of the tricky problems in the study of ancient literature—the dispersion of data and separation in time and space—are difficult to solve manually. The platform of the chronological literary map developed by digital humanities technology offers the five functions of browsing and retrieval, association generation, data statistics, space-time positioning, and visual presentation, making it possible to solve these two major problems. Digital humanities research changes the search and retrieval mode for ancient literary materials, making a turn from the segmentation and positioned retrieval of electronic documents to the classification and extraction of structured databases; from point search to network association; and from copying item by item to classification and packaging. The technology can change the traditional static text to a dynamic text that can be composed at will; can change the cognitive angle and methodology of literary history; can refine temporal divisions in literary history; and can deepen the spatial level of literature. The idea of attaching equal importance to chronology and locality, inspired by digital humanities, will change the paradigm for the composition of authorial chronologies and literary annals. Digital humanities technology can also automatically compare and identify the intertextual relationship between works, reconstruct the historical settings of ancient literature, and provide a new experience for the reading and appreciation of ancient literature.