Topology of Literary Theory 2: A Citation and Semantic Network Analysis of The Journal of Criticism and Theory (1996-2020)

This paper performs a semantic network analysis of the nouns from the titles of all papers published in The Journal of Criticism and Theory from 1996 to 2020, and attempts an additional citation network analysis for papers from 2016 to 2020, building on the same kind of analysis (1996-2015) in the previous study (2022). Noun networks are composed of the relationships between words with meaning, and thus are helpful in understanding the overall distribution of topics and their interconnections, compared to citation networks only with the names of scholars. These two methods generally show similar results in terms of the global landscape and change of theoretical topology while highlighting different aspects. The noun network from 1996 to 2015 shows outcomes similar to the citation network, but reveals new aspects such as the existence of aesthetic theory centered on “literature,” Derrida’s peripheral status, and the emergence of university discourse. Analysis of papers from 2016 to 2020 suggests that the theoretical paradigm which dominated the previous 20 years is collapsing and that new theories and themes are being sought. The citation network reveals the strong consolidation of the Deleuzian group and the rise of Butler along with the rapid contraction of existing theories while the noun network captures the emergence of scientific and technological discourses such as digital humanities and neuroscience in the context of exploring new possibilities. Drawing the theoretical topography of The Journal of Criticism and Theory is part of the grand task of grasping the knowledge field and history of Korean English literary studies. Hopefully, this research will be extended to other academic journals, leading to a macroscopic view of English literary studies in Korea.