Towards agent-based social simulation as a method in literary studies: Analyzing creative processes based on egodocuments

The use of modeling and simulation (M&S) as scientific method is no longer limited to technical disciplines but has also been established in humanities. However, most of the proposed methods originated from statistical and empirically-driven parts of humanities, e.g., social sciences and economics, while M&S is only rarely applied by literary scientists. In this paper, we present an approach to utilize M&S in literary science for facilitating the analysis of an author's creative processes by means of Agent-Based Social Simulation (ABSS). This is especially challenging, when the subject of investigation, i.e., the author, is no longer alive. In this case, all information required for Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) needs to be identified in and extracted from paperwork written by the author (egodocuments) or about the author. In this paper, we outline how ABM and ABSS can be systematically integrated into the research process in literary studies and what challenges arise.