The Conference of Computational Literary Studies (CCLS), which is now in its 4th year, has quickly become an important touchstone for the scholarly community around digital and computational literary studies. This year’s conference was held at Jagiellonian University in the beautiful city of Krakow.

This is the courtyard of the breathtaking Collegium Maius, the location for our conference dinner and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Picture taken by Svenja Guhr
Over the course of two days and six sessions – comprised of sixteen talks and one long-awaited keynote – some interesting shared focal points and concerns for the area of CLS emerged. It is perhaps to be expected that our field is now asking itself challenging questions about large language models: do these models understand literature? What does it even mean to understand literature? And can LLMs be used to identify the moral of a story?
A second interesting strand of research revolved around the representation of space in literary works. A variety of papers tackled the topic of literary space and place in innovative and diverse ways: from geocoding to machine learning and from analyzing literary modes of transportation to measuring how easily literary worlds can be visualized.
Another interesting set of papers clustered around the analysis of literary reception: how do texts impact readers and circulate in society? This included forays into literary citizen science, the mapping of literary communities in contemporary St. Petersburg, and my own research, which revolves around the reception and rewriting of Greek mythology in contemporary online fanfiction.

Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, “The Rape of Proserpina”, Galleria Borghese, Rome. (1621-22), World History Encyclopedia
Specifically, I presented an analysis of fanfiction about the mythological figures Hades and Persephone. Most canonical versions of this myth are characterized by an explicitly unequal power dynamic, since Persephone is kidnapped and sexually assaulted by Hades. The moment of her violent abduction was immortalized in the famous statue by Bernini.
Through a computational analysis of the verbs associated with the fictional characters of Hades and Persephone in contemporary fanfiction, I measured the power dynamics portrayed in this fanfiction. The fan-written stories are varied: some portray the unequal, patriarchal power dynamics familiar from traditional versions of the myth, others rewrite the relationship to subvert canonical expectations. I also found that stories with a bigger power imbalance were less popular with readers, which led me to the title for my paper: a powerful Hades is an unpopular dude.

Me – Julia Neugarten – introducing fanfiction at the start of my presentation. Picture taken by Svenja Guhr.
Overall, we had an inspiring and diverse conference – more diverse than I can describe in a short blogpost, so I encourage you to check out all of the contributions yourself. The atmosphere was curious, inquisitive, and supportive, for which I want to thank the organizers and everyone who participated. Next year, CCLS will celebrate its 5th anniversary at the Potsdam Digital Humanities Network.



