期刊名称：Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature
印刷版ISSN：1447-8986
电子版ISSN：1833-6027
出版年度：2008
卷号：SP
页码：184-197
出版社：Association for the Study of Australian Literature
摘要：In a recent Meanjin essay, David Carter identifies a number of trends in
contemporary Australian literary studies. Prominent among these is ¡°a
kind of new empiricism¡±, described as a direction of research in Australian
literary studies developing ¡°precisely through engagement with theories of
culture that point beyond literary autonomy¡± (118). Such projects¡ªand the
eResearch resources and strategies that enable and foster them¡ªhave been
increasingly successful in gaining funding in Australia. However, there is still
a tendency for scholars in literary studies to regard empirical methods with
¡°suspicion¡± (Joshi 264). Focusing on quantitative analysis¡ªa particularly
significant and, I believe, fruitful tool of empiricism¡ªI will explore why we
need to overcome such suspicion if Australian literary studies are to prosper.
In particular, I argue that quantitative studies, and eResearch generally,
are not only possible within Australian literary studies; they are the logical
progression from (and the only feasible way fully to realise) the insights that
have shaped the discipline over the past three decades. While employing such
methods challenges methodological, critical and disciplinary orthodoxies,
such a move has the potential to propel Australian literary studies beyond
its current crisis of confidence by reinvigorating the discipline and offering
renewed institutional, political, social and critical relevance, and alternative
funding opportunities.
