I read this because of being involved with a few projects using distant reading techniques. I found the graphs and trees sections engaging approaches to the rise and fall of the novel and the diversification of genres. The maps section I found less interesting, possibly because I was mostly unfamiliar with the example texts.

The weakness, from my viewpoint working in visualization, was the actual graphs, maps, and trees as presented on paper. Having recently read W. Cleveland, banking to 45 degrees was on my mind. The dramatic effect of the explosion of the novel in various locations is perhaps entirely due to the aspect ratio of the charts. The maps looked more like random PowerPoint mind-maps than anything. Some of the trees were scrunched to fit the page which affected my initial reading of them. ( )

I wish I had read this before all the other mapping theory, not last. It suffers a bit in comparison, and comes off as a little bit on the cozy side. Which is fine, but I was hoping for a slightly more radical thesis than 19th-century village novels and detective stories. Still, I liked the Trees chapter for its absolute elegance... or maybe because Moretti invoked Charles Darwin's Tree of Life. ( )

http://bactra.org/weblog/404.html ( )

La letteratura affrontata con l'attenzione e gli strumenti di uno scenziato che ne osserva comportamenti e ne deriva ipotetiche leggi universali. Un approccio spiazzante di notevole interesse con un utilizzo nuovo e forte di strumenti statistici, nati in tutt'altro contesto ma sorprendetemente utili alla bisogna. Dalla dimostrazione di fenomeni di ciclicità (con una relazione forte con i ricambi generazionali, a prescindere dagli universi osservati) alla relazione stretta degli effetti dell'introduzione del catasto nell'Inghilterra di due secoli fa sulla letteratura che non fa più "passeggiare nelle campagne" ma lungo le strade costeggiate di steccati e barriere. ( )

I'm interested in diagrams and info visualization at least as much as I'm interested in literary history, so when Moretti argues that the former can be used as a tool to learn more about the latter, I don't find it particularly controversial. But the examples he uses to prove the utility of his method are startling in their clarity and force. Recommended. ( )