I presented my research on quantitative approaches to analyzing Russian poetry at the conference “Графомания. Русская литература и ее границы” (Graphomania. Russian Literature and Its Boundaries) at the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkinskij Dom) in Saint Petersburg.

Research Question

The presentation addressed the question of how computational methods can help distinguish between canonical poetry and what might be considered “graphomania” - examining whether quantitative measures can capture qualitative differences in literary value.

Methodology

The study compared texts from Стихи.ру (Stihi.ru), a popular Russian poetry platform, with established poetic canon using various computational metrics:

  • Linguistic features: Vocabulary diversity, syntactic complexity, rhythmic patterns
  • Statistical analysis: Frequency distributions, stylometric measures
  • Comparative analysis: Canonical vs. non-canonical poetry characteristics

Key Findings

The research explored whether computational methods can identify markers that distinguish between:

  • Canonical Russian poetry from the literary tradition
  • Contemporary poetry published on digital platforms
  • The boundaries and overlaps between these categories

Theoretical Implications

The presentation examined the broader theoretical questions around:

  • Digital humanities approaches to literary value assessment
  • The role of computational methods in literary criticism
  • Challenges in defining and measuring literary quality

Conference Context

This conference brought together scholars examining the boundaries of Russian literature, providing an important forum for discussing how digital methods can inform traditional literary studies while respecting the complexity of aesthetic judgment.