Character Constellations

Fiction has a major social impact, not least because it co-shapes the image that society has of various social groups. Drawing on a collection of 170 contemporary Dutch-language novels, Character Constellations presents a range of data-driven, statistical models to study depictions of characters in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, sexuality, and other identity categories. Incorporating the tools of network analysis, each chapter highlights an aspect of fictional social networks that affects the representation of social groups: their centrality, their communities, and their conflicts. While reading individual novels in light of emerging statistical patterns, combining the formal methods of social network analysis with the interpretive tools of narratology, this study shows how central societal themes such as (in)equality and emancipation, integration and segregation, and social mobility and class struggle are foregrounded, replicated, or distorted in the Dutch novel. Showcasing what character-based critiques of literary representation gain by integrating data-driven methods into the practice of critical close reading, Character Constellations contributes to societal debates on cultural representation and identity and the role fiction and art have in those debates

The Achilles heel of decision making system in termites

Mitochondrial beta-oxidation of long-chain fatty acids requires the concerted action of three tightly integrated membrane-bound enzymes (carnitine palmitoyltransferase I and II and carnitine/acylcarnitine translocase) that transport them into mitochondria. Neonatal onset of carnitine palmitoyltransferase II (CPT II) deficiency is an autosomal recessive, often lethal disorder of this transport. We describe a novel splice-site mutation in the CPT II gene, found in a Moroccan family, of which four out of five children have died from the neonatal form of CPT II deficiency. Mutation detection studies at the mRNA level in the CPT II gene implied that the affected children were homozygous for the previously reported 534T insertion followed by a 25-bp deletion (encompassing bases 534-558). Studies of genomic DNA, however, revealed all patients to be compound heterozygous for this 534T ins/del 25 mutation, and for a new g-->a splice-site mutation in the splice-acceptor site of intron 2. Because of these findings, prenatal diagnosis was performed in chorionic villi of three new pregnancies. This did not reveal new compound heterozygous genotypes, and, after uneventful pregnancies, all children appeared to be healthy. The new mutation is the first splice-site mutation ever identified in CPT II deficiency. The fact that it was not discovered in the patient's cDNA makes this study another example of the incompleteness of mutation detection at the mRNA level in cases where a mutation leads to aberrant splicing or nonsense-mediated messenger deca

Synergistic use of glycomics and single-molecule molecular inversion probes for identification of congenital disorders of glycosylation type-1

Congenital disorders of glycosylation type 1 (CDG-I) comprise a group of 27 genetic defects with heterogeneous multisystem phenotype, mostly presenting with nonspecific neurological symptoms. The biochemical hallmark of CDG-I is a partial absence of complete N-glycans on transferrin. However, recent findings of a diagnostic N-tetrasaccharide for ALG1-CDG and increased high-mannose N-glycans for a few other CDG suggested the potential of glycan structural analysis for CDG-I gene discovery. We analyzed the relative abundance of total plasma N-glycans by high resolution quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry in a large cohort of 111 CDG-I patients with known (n = 75) or unsolved (n = 36) genetic cause. We designed single-molecule molecular inversion probes (smMIPs) for sequencing of CDG-I candidate genes on the basis of specific N-glycan signatures. Glycomics profiling in patients with known defects revealed novel features such as the N-tetrasaccharide in ALG2-CDG patients and a novel fucosylated N-pentasaccharide as specific glycomarker for ALG1-CDG. Moreover, group-specific high-mannose N-glycan signatures were found in ALG3-, ALG9-, ALG11-, ALG12-, RFT1-, SRD5A3-, DOLK-, DPM1-, DPM3-, MPDU1-, ALG13-CDG, and hereditary fructose intolerance. Further differential analysis revealed high-mannose profiles, characteristic for ALG12- and ALG9-CDG. Prediction of candidate genes by glycomics profiling in 36 patients with thus far unsolved CDG-I and subsequent smMIPs sequencing led to a yield of solved cases of 78% (28/36). Combined plasma glycomics profiling and targeted smMIPs sequencing of candidate genes is a powerful approach to identify causative mutations in CDG-I patient cohorts

Character Constellations

Fiction has a major social impact, not least because it co-shapes the image that society has of various social groups. Drawing on a collection of 170 contemporary Dutch-language novels, Character Constellations presents a range of data-driven, statistical models to study depictions of characters in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, sexuality, and other identity categories. Incorporating the tools of network analysis, each chapter highlights an aspect of fictional social networks that affects the representation of social groups: their centrality, their communities, and their conflicts. While reading individual novels in light of emerging statistical patterns, combining the formal methods of social network analysis with the interpretive tools of narratology, this study shows how central societal themes such as (in)equality and emancipation, integration and segregation, and social mobility and class struggle are foregrounded, replicated, or distorted in the Dutch novel. Showcasing what character-based critiques of literary representation gain by integrating data-driven methods into the practice of critical close reading, Character Constellations contributes to societal debates on cultural representation and identity and the role fiction and art have in those debates

Modeling Conflict: Representations of Social Groups in Present-Day Dutch Literature

This essay responds to a lack of scholarly attention for conflict as a narrative mechanism since the formalist models of Vladimir Propp and Algirdas Julien Greimas. Building on recent developments within cultural analytics, the essay argues for a new understanding of narrative conflict by integrating classic narratological models with data-driven, statistical methods. It does so by (a) proposing two computational models of conflict based on theoretical insights from narratology, conflict studies, and network theory, (b) applying those models to a sample corpus of 170 present-day Dutch novels, and (c) briefly illustrating the narratological value of the results by interpreting the representation of social groups in two novels from the corpus – Bart Koubaa’s De Brooklynclub (2012) and Leon de Winter’s VSV (2012) – in light of the statistical patterns found for the corpus as a whole. The analyses of dyadic (two characters) and triadic (three characters) conflict leads to two central conclusions: 1) lower educated characters are more dominant in dyadic conflicts and 2) the majority of triadic conflicts exist in a state of social balance

Modelling Conflicts Between Characters in Present-Day Dutch Literary Fiction.

Abstract of paper 0312 presented at the Digital Humanities Conference 2019 (DH2019), Utrecht , the Netherlands 9-12 July, 2019

Modelling Conflicts Between Characters in Present-Day Dutch Literary Fiction.

Abstract of paper 0312 presented at the Digital Humanities Conference 2019 (DH2019), Utrecht , the Netherlands 9-12 July, 2019

Mapping the Demographic Landscape of Characters in Recent Dutch Prose: A Quantitative Approach to Literary Representation

The lack of ethnic and gender diversity in the Dutch literary domain has recently been subject to discussions in the public debate. In the academic context, questions regarding diversity are studied either on a literary-sociological level (institutional approaches) or on the level of the individual text (close readings). In this article we question the representation of gender, ethnic and class diversity on a larger scale than most qualitative studies address. This type of quantitative analysis of representation is commonly applied in media studies, but has not yet been utilised in literary studies. We provide an exploration of a quantitative approach to the representation of characters within the Dutch novel. Through ‘distant reading’ we collected identifying marks of 1,176 characters (gender, descent, education, profession, age) in 170 novels from the bulk list of the Libris Literatuurprijs 2013, a prestigious award for Dutch literature. Thus, we intended to map a ‘demographic landscape’ of characters in recent Dutch literature. On the basis of our results, we argue (1) that a hierarchy of identities can be discerned in which certain categories dominate others; (2) that the emergence of literary norms becomes most visible through the intersections of different categories; and (3) that within matters of diversity in literature a quantitative approach can complement and enhance qualitative literary analyses

Replication Data for: "The Canon of Dutch Literature According to Google"

Data used to reconstruct the Google related searches network of Dutch authors. The comparison data on the Dutch authors in the registers in the Dutch literary histories (GNT) cannot published because of copyright issues