Words, Bytes and Numbers: le Digital Humanities “viste da vicino”

Abstract

This article attempts an updated, exhaustive definition of the now fashionable, as well as deceptive, idea of the Digital Humanities by outlining a short history of the discipline and providing examples of its methods and results. Far from being an instrument subservient to traditional humanist knowledge, the Digital Humanities are now a fully-fledged, independent science that is strongly rooted in empirical data. This article highlights the application, and the potential, of the Digital Humanities in relation to the analysis of single texts as well as of broad textual corpora, and highlights how the Digital Humanities could radically transform the field, and the practices, of literary studies.