Plot and Genre in Computational Literary Studies
The international conference Plot and Genre in the Computational Literary Studies on Thursday, May 21, and Friday, May 22, 2026 explores how computational literary studies can model plot in ways that are comparable across methods and informative for genre analysis. Bringing together work on large-scale genre dynamics, narrative movement, segmentation, networks, space, names, and emotions, the event examines how narrative structure can be operationalized as a shared analytical object. The goal is to develop more robust models that connect narratological theory with empirical, data-driven genre research.
Program
Thursday, May 21, 2026 | |
| 12.15 | Katrin Dennerlein / Agnes Hilger / Leonard Konle / Steffen Pielström / Julian Schröter / Christof Schöch / Thorsten Vitt: Introduction |
| 12.30 | Evelyn Gius: Where to Cut the Story: Plot Analysis as a Segmentation Problem |
| 13.15 | Ted Underwood: The Big Reveal: Using Spoilers to Model Surprise |
| 14.00 | Katrin Dennerlein: Being Moved: Character Emotion as Indicator of Turning Points in Plot Progression |
| 14.45 | Coffee Break |
| 15.15 | Maciej Eder: Genre and Chronology Intertwined, or Urbanism vs. Regionalism in Brazilian Novels |
| 16.00 | Simone Rebora: Operationalizing Plot Theory with Large Language Models: The Case of Affective Narratology |
| 16.45 | Coffee Break |
| 17.15 | Stephanie Catani / Christof Weiß: Plotting the frontier: Computational Methods in Analyzing the Western Genre |
| 18.00 | Jan Rybicki: Tracing Genre and Style in Scholarly Writing: The Case of Fotis Jannidis |
| 19.30 | Dinner |
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Friday, May 22, 2026 | |
| 09.00 | Christof Schöch / Keli Du: Topic, Plot and Subgenre in a Collection of Contemporary French Novels |
| 09.45 | Artjoms Šeļa: How Poetry Shifted Genre and Stopped Being a Song: Historical Change in the Form and Language of English Poems |
| 10.30 | Coffee Break |
| 11.00 | Julian Schröter: Agent-Based Plot Modeling for Literary Genres: First Thoughts |
| 11.45 | Karina van Dalen-Oskam: Proper Names as a Reflection of Plot and Genre |
| 12.30 | Fotis Jannidis / Leonard Konle / Julia Wunderle / Andreas Hotho: Character Profiles and Genre in German Dime Novel |
| 13.15 | Closing Remarks |
Registration
Attendance is free and open for everyone who is interested.
Please register until May 14 by sending an E-Mail to Barbara Gersitz at barbara.gersitz@uni-wuerzburg.de.
Place
The conference will take place in the lecture hall on the ground floor (00.001) at the Center for Philology and Digitality (ZPD) of the JMU Würzburg, Emil-Hilb-Weg 23, Campus Nord: attendance will be in-person only. Dinner (for speakers & convenors) will be at a restaurant in town.
