Jean Barré
@jbarre.bsky.social
PhD student @ École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Working in the Computational Literary Studies field on literary evolution of novel subgenres & canonization process + fr-BookNLP implementation w/ @labolattice.bsky.social
https://crazyjeannot.github.io/
https://crazyjeannot.github.io/
Excited to present and discuss these findings at #CHR2025
Big thanks to @oseminck.bsky.social @tpoibeau.bsky.social & Antoine Bourgois ❤️
📂 Data + code → github.com/lattice-8094/DETECTIVES
Big thanks to @oseminck.bsky.social @tpoibeau.bsky.social & Antoine Bourgois ❤️
📂 Data + code → github.com/lattice-8094/DETECTIVES
GitHub - lattice-8094/DETECTIVES: repository for the data & code of the paper "Modeling the Construction of a Literary Archetype"
repository for the data & code of the paper "Modeling the Construction of a Literary Archetype" - lattice-8094/DETECTIVES
github.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Excited to present and discuss these findings at #CHR2025
Big thanks to @oseminck.bsky.social @tpoibeau.bsky.social & Antoine Bourgois ❤️
📂 Data + code → github.com/lattice-8094/DETECTIVES
Big thanks to @oseminck.bsky.social @tpoibeau.bsky.social & Antoine Bourgois ❤️
📂 Data + code → github.com/lattice-8094/DETECTIVES
Our main computational finding reshapes the history of French detective fiction: three major phases emerge: a proto-detective era, a classic period in the 1930s–40s, and a postwar complexification
This data-driven chronology challenges Anglophone genre models and reveals a distinct French trajectory
This data-driven chronology challenges Anglophone genre models and reveals a distinct French trajectory
November 4, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Our main computational finding reshapes the history of French detective fiction: three major phases emerge: a proto-detective era, a classic period in the 1930s–40s, and a postwar complexification
This data-driven chronology challenges Anglophone genre models and reveals a distinct French trajectory
This data-driven chronology challenges Anglophone genre models and reveals a distinct French trajectory
This leads to our key question: despite high accuracy & strong unity, how does the archetype evolve across genres and time?
So we model its Semantic Trajectory : from a cold, rational reasoner to an intuitive, emotionally engaged figure.
💻 Interactive viz → crazyjeannot.github.io/pdfs/detecti...
So we model its Semantic Trajectory : from a cold, rational reasoner to an intuitive, emotionally engaged figure.
💻 Interactive viz → crazyjeannot.github.io/pdfs/detecti...
November 4, 2025 at 5:36 PM
This leads to our key question: despite high accuracy & strong unity, how does the archetype evolve across genres and time?
So we model its Semantic Trajectory : from a cold, rational reasoner to an intuitive, emotionally engaged figure.
💻 Interactive viz → crazyjeannot.github.io/pdfs/detecti...
So we model its Semantic Trajectory : from a cold, rational reasoner to an intuitive, emotionally engaged figure.
💻 Interactive viz → crazyjeannot.github.io/pdfs/detecti...
Over the 19th and 20th centuries, the detective becomes both more frequent and more central in French fiction.
Our model predicts not only a growing ratio of detective characters but also a rise in the proportion of text devoted to them.
Our model predicts not only a growing ratio of detective characters but also a rise in the proportion of text devoted to them.
November 4, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Over the 19th and 20th centuries, the detective becomes both more frequent and more central in French fiction.
Our model predicts not only a growing ratio of detective characters but also a rise in the proportion of text devoted to them.
Our model predicts not only a growing ratio of detective characters but also a rise in the proportion of text devoted to them.
Our detective detector reaches 0.923 accuracy 🎉, showing both the strength and the stability of the archetype, as a model can recognize it across 150 years of fiction.
We then generalize this detection to a corpus of ~3 000 novels & 2 centuries.
We then generalize this detection to a corpus of ~3 000 novels & 2 centuries.
November 4, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Our detective detector reaches 0.923 accuracy 🎉, showing both the strength and the stability of the archetype, as a model can recognize it across 150 years of fiction.
We then generalize this detection to a corpus of ~3 000 novels & 2 centuries.
We then generalize this detection to a corpus of ~3 000 novels & 2 centuries.
We build a 🕵️♂️ Detective Detector 🕵️♂️ based on manual annotation of major French detectives across the corpus.
We used
• character/Coref resolution from the Propp-fr pipeline (child of BookNLP-fr)
• Contextual embeddings of character attributes using CamemBERT
We used
• character/Coref resolution from the Propp-fr pipeline (child of BookNLP-fr)
• Contextual embeddings of character attributes using CamemBERT
November 4, 2025 at 5:36 PM
We build a 🕵️♂️ Detective Detector 🕵️♂️ based on manual annotation of major French detectives across the corpus.
We used
• character/Coref resolution from the Propp-fr pipeline (child of BookNLP-fr)
• Contextual embeddings of character attributes using CamemBERT
We used
• character/Coref resolution from the Propp-fr pipeline (child of BookNLP-fr)
• Contextual embeddings of character attributes using CamemBERT
That’s all for now! This is just preliminary research on the formal evolution of French literature—stay tuned for more!
May 6, 2025 at 5:34 PM
That’s all for now! This is just preliminary research on the formal evolution of French literature—stay tuned for more!
What drives this tense-revolution? Our OLS models reveal it’s genre above all, with time period and canonicity as secondary factors. 🔍
May 6, 2025 at 5:30 PM
What drives this tense-revolution? Our OLS models reveal it’s genre above all, with time period and canonicity as secondary factors. 🔍
This article evaluates different drivers of change: genre conventions, canonicity, or simple temporal drift?🤔
First, we mapped the passé simple’s co-movement over 200 years 🔄, revealing a clear split between past tenses (imparfait, plus-que-parfait) and present tenses (présent, futur, passé composé)
First, we mapped the passé simple’s co-movement over 200 years 🔄, revealing a clear split between past tenses (imparfait, plus-que-parfait) and present tenses (présent, futur, passé composé)
May 6, 2025 at 5:28 PM
This article evaluates different drivers of change: genre conventions, canonicity, or simple temporal drift?🤔
First, we mapped the passé simple’s co-movement over 200 years 🔄, revealing a clear split between past tenses (imparfait, plus-que-parfait) and present tenses (présent, futur, passé composé)
First, we mapped the passé simple’s co-movement over 200 years 🔄, revealing a clear split between past tenses (imparfait, plus-que-parfait) and present tenses (présent, futur, passé composé)
Les deux places / embranchements du pont de l'Alma, surtout au Nord - Soit la circulation y est complètement bouchée, soit la vitesse des motorisés est >50. Les avenues qui en découlent ne sont pas mieux (av Georges 5, av Rapp, +av Bosquet interdite aux cyclistes, wtf).
April 7, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Les deux places / embranchements du pont de l'Alma, surtout au Nord - Soit la circulation y est complètement bouchée, soit la vitesse des motorisés est >50. Les avenues qui en découlent ne sont pas mieux (av Georges 5, av Rapp, +av Bosquet interdite aux cyclistes, wtf).