Outgoing Talk by Dr. Katrin Rohrbacher: Measuring Narrative Space: A Computational Study of German and English Prose Fiction
Outgoing Talk: Measuring Narrative Space: A Computational Study of German and English Prose Fiction
Dr. Katrin Rohrbacher (DHSS)
Dr. Katrin Rohrbacher (DHSS) will give a guest lecture at Bielefeld University, hosted by the research colloquium
“LiLi revisited: Digital Interface Research between Literary Studies and Linguistics” and the
Computational/Digital Linguistics Work Group Meeting.
Measuring Narrative Space: A Computational Study of German and English Prose Fiction
In this talk, I will present ongoing work on measuring the notion of narrative space using machine learning methods,
specifically by fine-tuning BERT-based classification models and applying them to a large collection of German and
English historical prose fiction, including both canonical works and non-fiction. Moving from theorization and
conceptualization to dataset creation, modeling, analysis, and interpretation, I will outline the steps involved in
conducting a computational study of this kind. We will examine results that show how the concepts of “setting” and
“lived space” have been used in fiction over time and discuss their implications for “experientiality” and embodiment
more broadly, including cross-linguistic perspectives between German and English. The talk also introduces a
methodological model for iterative, interpretive “computational reading” that bridges qualitative and quantitative
approaches.
Speaker: Dr. Katrin Rohrbacher (DHSS)
Date: Tuesday, January 13, 2026
Time: 10:00–12:00
Host: Bielefeld University
Format: Hybrid
Venue: Lecture Hall X-E1-201 and Zoom
Zoom access:
Zoom link: https://uni-bielefeld.zoom-x.de/j/67280092106?pwd=Zlzqqy980r2N7I1wTktAbbV33tCBaj.1
Meeting ID: 672 8009 2106
Password: 719720
The lecture is public. Please note that the talk will not be recorded.