Moretti offers bar charts maps and time lines instead developing the idea of distant reading set forth in his path breaking essay conjectures on world literature into a full blown experiment in literary historiography where the canon disappears into the larger literary system. Graphs maps trees abstract models for literary history 1 what follows is the first of three interconnected articles whose common purpose is to delineate a transformation in the study of literature literature the old territory but within it a shift from the close reading of individual texts to the construction of abstract models. Graphs maps trees abstract models for literary history paperback september 17 2007 by franco moretti author visit amazons franco moretti page find all the books read about the author and more see search results for this author . Distant reading is a term coined by italian literary scholar franco moretti he strives to analyze literature by more scientific means in the opening pages of his book graph maps trees abstract models for a literary history he states tha. Get this from a library graphs maps trees abstract models for a literary history franco moretti franco moretti argues heretically that literature scholars should stop reading books and start counting graphing and mapping them instead he insists that such a move could bring new lustre to a