The New Hermeneutics: Crossing the ‘Digital Turn’ in Literary Analysis and Textual Recovery

Abstract

The introduction of the concept of artificial intelligence into literary studies can be regarded as a
paradigm shift in the textual criticism and philology. The paper discusses the transformations in
using the advanced AI tools such as large language models and specialized digital humanities
platforms in the process of analyzing the complex literary datasets. These technologies enable us
to concentrate on high-level revealing synthesis by automating labor-intensive processes, such as
transcription, variant detection, stylometric analysis, etc. Nevertheless, this change requires a
critical assessment of the algorithmic bias and maintenance of the human hermeneutics. Finally,
AI is a highly advanced digital optic, which can increase the rigor of the scholarship but demands
a solid ethical framework to be employed.