See below the Program of the Workshop no. 1., some photos and summary of the proceedings with detailed bibliography:

The workshop fully achieved its objectives and successfully aligned researchers toward a shared research agenda. The opening lecture, delivered by Botond Szemes on the first day, outlined two broad directions for potential collaboration: the study of bibliographic and biographical metadata, and the text mining analysis of comparable literary corpora.

Jessie Labov, who will continue to coordinate related research in the future, led the discussion on the first category. Key contributions to this discussion were made by Kata Dobás, editor of the HUN-REN RCH Institute of Literary Studies' Wikibase-based semantic knowledge graph; Snejana Ung, who gave a presentation on literary relations between Romania and South Slavic countries based on translation metadata; and Anna Mędrzecka-Stefańska, who spoke on Polish biographical research. Based on the range of existing contributions, the group determined that it would be more productive to summarise and connect current infrastructures rather than build an entirely new database from scratch.

A public lecture series titled "Metadata Afternoon" was held on 20 March as part of this initiative. Presentations were given by Botond Szemes, Kata Dobás, Patryk Hubar, Snejana Ung, and guest speaker Péter Király (joining online), who spoke about translation patterns in Hungarian literature using large-scale data analysis. Király’s talk generated substantial interest, and the group decided to maintain closer contact with him in future projects. In addition to the group members, attendees included Gábor Palkó, Zsófi Fellegi, and Barbara Bobák from the DigiPhil project of the HUN-REN RCH Institute of Literary Studies; Tamás Scheibner, a researcher at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) and HUN-REN RCH; Róbert Péter from the University of Szeged, developer of AVOMBAT infrastructer; and Patrick Joula, a visiting lecturer at ELTE’s Department of Digital Humanities.

The second research strand—literary text analysis—was divided into two subfields. Petr Plecháč and Artjoms Sela introduced the PoeTree database and interface. They discussed the potential of algortihmic analysis of poetry through this plaform. Given the promising development of this project, much of the conversation focused on its potential applications for regional literary historiography. Ben Nagy contributed important insights, especially on the automatic detection of poetic imitation and literary influence.

A further lively discussion centered on the comparative study of the region’s fiction. Patryk Hubar, Snejana Ung, and Botond Szemes noted the availability of comparable corpora of novels in Polish, Romanian, and Hungarian. Following a suggestion by Joanna Byszuk, Artjoms Sela, and Jacek Bakowski, the group agreed to begin with a thematic comparison: after independently modeling the themes in each corpus, researchers will examine similarities and differences across the region’s novels. This strand of research will be coordinated by Botond Szemes going forward.

Below is a list of institutions from the CEE region that represent a wider group of scholars in Comparative Literary Studies:

Project Title: Digital Methods for a Comparative Study of Central European Literary History

Project Partners:

1. Research Centre for Humanities, Institute of Literary Studies: https://iti.abtk.hu/en
2. Institute of Polish Language, Polish Academy of Sciences: https://ijp.pan.pl/en/, https://computationalstylistics.github.io/
3. The Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences: https://ibl.waw.pl/en/
4. Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Czech Literature: https://ucl.cas.cz/en/

The project is supported by the Visegrad Fund (Visegrad Grant, Project 22430232)

Description of the project

Literature and cultural studies are increasingly dealing with the question of regionality, and in this context with the Central European or Visegrad region as a unique field of world literature. Typically, research examines cultural relations between nations in this region, their historical specificities, and how the region is represented in global literature. Despite the large textual sample required for such studies, Digital Humanities (DH) methodologies are seldom employed. While there are a few computational literary studies in the area, there has been no coordinated effort. This project aims to bring together leading DH researchers from the Visegrad countries to develop a regional literary historiography using digital literary studies. By doing so, we will identify the limitations of existing DH methods for less-researched languages like Polish, Czech, and Hungarian, and create new approaches based on previous experiences. This research is vital not only from a methodological standpoint but also for gaining deeper insights into the region’s shared yet diverse history. Data-driven analysis can reveal hidden patterns that traditional methods might overlook. For instance, we can examine how the cultural memories of Visegrad countries are structured, which translations historically shaped the literary field, and what stylistic or thematic features characterize the literature of certain periods. Ultimately, this project aims to deepen our understanding of Central European literary traditions using innovative digital tools.

To establish a regional literary historiography based on Digital Humanities (DH), we aim to bring together prominent researchers from the Visegrad countries for collaborative research. Scholars from institutions such as HUN-REN RCH, Institute for Literary Studies (Budapest), the Polish Academy of Sciences (Krakow and Warsaw), and the Czech Academy of Sciences (Prague) will participate. Each institution will contribute 2-3 researchers, ensuring effective collaboration within this small group. Guest lecturers from other Central and Eastern European countries, like Romania and Slovenia, will further enrich the project by sharing their perspectives. We plan two major workshops. The first, held in Budapest, will focus on sharing experiences and developing research directions. Afterward, participants will collaborate online, with smaller groups working on specific topics. The second workshop, six months later in Krakow, will involve presenting findings and will double as a short conference open to a wider audience. This project will not only enhance collaboration among Visegrad countries but also lay the groundwork for a cohesive regional historiography using DH techniques.

We plan to develop two key approaches in the research: - Historical-poetic comparison of similar corpora (like PoeTree, ELTeC or DraCor) from the region, focusing primarily on the 19th and early 20th centuries. This will involve methods such as stylometry and text mining to compare literary works across national boundaries. - Comparison of bibliographic and biographical metadata, analyzed from a literary-historical perspective. While similar research has been conducted at a national level, or in comparisons between two countries, this project will integrate and expand upon those efforts. By linking data across multiple countries, we aim to uncover new insights and provide a broader perspective on regional literary history. In terms of metadata research, combining existing national studies will enhance understanding of the region’s cultural and literary dynamics in ways not previously possible. In the historical-poetic comparison, the project is breaking new ground, as no prior research has systematically explored the literary history of this region in this manner. By working together, researchers from different national contexts can generate collective knowledge and interpretations that go beyond what could be achieved in a purely national framework, opening the door to genuinely innovative discoveries about Central European literary history.

Hosted by the Institute of Literary Studies, June 6-8, 2024
Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Research Network
Conference venue: Museum of Music History, Táncsics Mihály u. 7, 1014 Budapest

The event was supported by the NKFI K138668 porject "Hungarian Literature as World Literature", the "Political Economy of Hungarian Literature" MTA-Lendület grant and the National Cultural Fund, Hungary.

Thursday, June 6

Friday, June 7

Saturday, June 8 (optional)

(!) note location change (!): Corvinus University Gellért Campus, Ménesi út., Room G-J301