1991:2 - Universitetet i Bergen

of three empIoyees, and the committee recommends thas the Norwegian
government takes econorn ic responsibil ity for the enterprise.
ET KONKORDANS-PROGRAM SOM HJELPEMIDDEL I
LITTERATURFORSKNING OG
LITTERATUR UNDERVISNING
CONCORDANCES AND LITTERATURE
In this articfe the author discusses the use of concordances for research
and teaching of literary texts. Literary siudies make 1css use of computer-based
melhods than many ohes disciplines wilhin the humanities.
The article suggem that this may be due lo the fact that the computer
is ill suited as a medium in the primary process of rcading, experiencing
and interpreting lilerary texrs.
Howcver. the author maintains that the computer rnay be of hclp in
the secondary work of literary interpretation. When teacher or student
is to synthecize rhe literary experience and organisc the elemcnts of
~he text in order to argue for a specifrc inlerpreution, concordancing
software will find ALL ciccurrences of key ierms, and will make it
easier to subsmntiate a specific rcading.
The article is based on work done with TACT, an indexing and
concordance program developed at Toran~o University, and an electronic
edition of the works of Henrik Ibsen.
The arricle presents rhc results of a few searches in A Doll's House,
showing how hese rnay be used in order te systcmatize ithernes and
present a reading of the play. For an uliderstanding of the whole, one
is still dependendent on reading the complete text, And for that purpose,
the author adrnits, the old-fashioned book is still a mort: efficient
medium.
A Doll's House is rathet a short text: the authar suggests ttiat the
method would be even more appropriate, when applied to more extensive
malerial.
HuMM~KE DATA 291