Study: British Lit Getting Less Emotional, American Moreso
Fear more common in books from both sides of the pond
Bridget Jones might have been grousing melodramatically about her love life, but according to a new study, she and other emotive characters might be a minority in modern British literature.
To find out how the language in our novels has changed over time, researchers from universities in the U.K. and Sweden analyzed the English Google Books database, going back to 1900, for words that carried the feelings of "Anger, Disgust, Fear, Joy, Sadness, and Surprise."
h/t Charles WT
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?