My Augmented Heart of Darkness

[emdaniels]

Augments text with the definitions of words not found in the Basic English word list. Project is here and the text of Heart of Darkness has been explained here.

The Nellie , a cruising yawl (a ship's small boat (usually rowed by 4 or 6 oars))

, swung to her anchor (a mechanical device that prevents a vessel from moving)

without a flutter (the act of moving back and forth) of the sails (a large piece of fabric (usually canvas fabric) by means of which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel)

, and was at rest .

[DocEon]

This is terrific! It works especially well with Conrad, who's already so digressive. Would be interesting with Moby Dick, too.

[hugovk]

I ran it on Moby Dick, explained in full here, and here's an extract:

Call (assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to) me Ishmael . Some years (a late time of life) ago-never mind how long precisely-having little or no money in my purse (a container used for carrying money and small personal items or accessories (especially by women))

, and nothing particular (unique or specific to a person or thing or category)

to interest me on shore (the land along the edge of a body of water) , I thought I would sail (traverse or travel on (a body of water)) about a little and see the watery (filled with water) part of the world . It is a way I have of driving (operate or control a vehicle)

off the spleen (a large dark-red oval organ on the left side of the body between the stomach and the diaphragm; produces cells involved in immune responses)

and regulating (fix or adjust the time, amount, degree, or rate of) the circulation (the dissemination of copies of periodicals (as newspapers or magazines))

. Whenever I find myself growing (pass into a condition gradually, take on a specific property or attribute; become)

grim (not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty) about the mouth ; whenever it is a damp (a slight wetness) , drizzly (wet with light rain) November in my soul (the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life)

; whenever I find myself involuntarily (against your will) pausing (interrupt temporarily an activity before continuing)

before coffin (box in which a corpse is buried or cremated) warehouses (a storehouse for goods and merchandise)

, and bringing (take something or somebody with oneself somewhere) up the rear (the back of a military formation or procession)

of every funeral I meet ; and especially whenever my hypos (a compound used as a fixing agent in photographic developing)

get such an upper (the topmost one of two) hand of me , that it requires (require as useful, just, or proper)

a strong moral (concerned with principles of right and wrong or conforming to standards of behavior and character based on those principles)

principle (a basic generalization that is accepted as true and that can be used as a basis for reasoning or conduct)

to prevent (keep from happening or arising; make impossible) me from deliberately (with intention; in an intentional manner)

stepping (shift or move by taking a step) into the street , and methodically (in a methodical manner)

knocking (deliver a sharp blow or push :"He knocked the glass clear across the room")

people's hats (headdress that protects the head from bad weather; has shaped crown and usually a brim)

off-then , I account (be the sole or primary factor in the existence, acquisition, supply, or disposal of something)

it high time to get to sea as soon as I can .

(Apologies for the late tagging, GitHub doesn't send notifications for edits, only comments.)

[DocEon]

Oh! Thanks so much for this. I’m currently working on a paper on MD, genre, and epistemology, and I’m really interested in how the definitional, scientific asides in the novel modulate the truth-claims of the other sections of the novel; this kind of hyperexplained MD adds another layer of explanation on top, and also introduces an interesting kind of objectivity that further muddles the epistemological claims on hand.

Have (either of you) thought about implementing a version that appends a definition only for the first time an uncommon term shows up? Might be cool / more readable.

[emdaniels]

@DocEon Thanks for your feedback! I did think of making a version that was more aware of the previously explained words, but ran out of time for the NaNoGenMo challenge and wanted to get what I had done up. Perhaps a simple implementation of that could be removing the word to be scanned after it has been used to identify a word in the text. I'll play around with that and see.

[emdaniels]

@DocEon just added support to not redefine words previously defined and rewrote Heart of Darkness and Moby Dick. Let me know what you think!

[DocEon]

Wow, I completely lost track of this! It's incredibly cool, @emdaniels. I think it makes it substantially more readable. I can imagine some pedagogical uses for a text like this.

[dariusk]

God I love this. @emdaniels you are the best.