Fin de Siècle Vortex: Using Digital Tools to Read the Early Modernist Textual Performativity in The Picture of Dorian Gray

Abstract

Scholars in Korea interpret English novels predominantly through the thematic interpretation method of textual reading and response. This article attempts to counteract this traditional methodology and embraces a novel technique to read Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray by conjoining a theoretical framework with a digital tool. Ultimately, this study aims to apply a linguistic approach that incorporates Raymond Williams’s notion of “structures of feeling” to interpret The Picture of Dorian Gray as an early modernist novel that constitutes a fin de siècle social critique of nineteenth century England. The study uses linguistics computational tools called AntConc and Voyant to achieve its academic objective and, in the final phase, reconsiders the significance of Franco Moretti’s distant reading. Lastly, it visualizes the collaborating processes of a comparative reading constructed through the organic synergy of cooperation between theory, text, reader, and digital tools.