French Literature Reviews - 2026

W. McCarty, Humanities Computing
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics

Willard McCarty, Humanities Computing, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, 328 p.
ISBN: 1403935041

Description
Humanities Computing provides a rationale for a computing practice that is of and for as well as in the humanities and the interpretive social sciences. It engages philosophical, historical, ethnographic, and critical perspectives to show how computing helps us fulfill the basic mandate of the human sciences to ask ever better questions of the most challenging kind. It strengthens current practice by stimulating debate on the role of the computer in our intellectual life, and outlines an agenda for the field to which individual scholars across the humanities can contribute.

Contents
Acknowledgements
Epigraph
Preface
Modelling
Genre
Discipline
Computer Science
Agenda
Bibliography
Index

Humanities computing occupies a distinct space at the intersection of technological practice and interpretive inquiry. As a domain, it bridges the gap between technical methodologies and the traditions of the human sciences, engaging historical, philosophical, and critical perspectives. Scholars in this area examine how digital tools interact with qualitative research, aiming to refine intellectual methods and foster critical debate across disciplines. Willard McCarty's Humanities Computing provides a rationale for a computing practice that is of and for as well as in the humanities and the interpretive social sciences, engaging philosophical, historical, ethnographic, and critical perspectives to show how computing helps us fulfill the basic mandate of the human sciences to ask ever better questions of the most challenging kind.

Readers interested in the methodological foundations of digital scholarship may find this volume relevant. The text strengthens current practice by stimulating debate on the role of the computer in our intellectual life, and outlines an agenda for the field to which individual scholars across the humanities can contribute. By drawing on ethnographic and critical approaches, the work engages perspectives to show how computing helps researchers formulate more rigorous questions within their respective fields.