This chapter turns to space and visualization. For the common link between the section titles of Franco Moretti's book, Graphs, Maps, Trees (2007), is the visuality of his abstract models for literary history. Graphs, maps, and trees are all structures by which we can downmix complex, multi-dimensional aspects of literature into approximate two-dimensional (or sometimes three-dimensional) space. Much like conventional literary criticism, visualization yields new ways to conceive of narrative,

more »

... orienting texts through fresh optics and augmenting understanding. Visualization is a form of deformance and interpretation, as Lisa Samuels and Jerome McGann would have it. This chapter examines a range of approaches to the visualization of literary features, including kernel density mapping and version variance, but also explores digital visual-textual 'poetic' forms that are themselves visualizations.