A Nurturing Lab Model for Computational Literary Studies: An Inside Perspective From the BGU Literary Lab

The flourishing of digital humanities in the last two decades has led not only to a change in research methods and theoretical thinking but also to the emergence of new institutional settings, such as laboratories, to aid activity in the relatively new discipline. This begs the question as to the purpose of a laboratory engaged in computational research in the humanities. Why is it necessary? Is it just an attractive title allowing universities to appear up to date, or is there something beyond that? Using biologist Uri Alon’s description of the ideal laboratory, and the trickster as a liminal figure in literature and culture, this chapter seeks to outline and illustrate a model for a nurturing digital humanities lab: a laboratory built from the outset in a way that enables us, conceptually and mentally, no less than practically, to make visible and to deal with the challenges that distinguish digital humanities as a unique field which requires free movement between spaces, methods, and disciplines.