Big Borges: What Can Big Data Show About a Classic Writer on Social Networks?

Abstract

Yet Borges is not only a “classic” and a cult figure in humanist, scientific and technological discourse, but also – paradoxically – he is equally revered in mass media, particularly on social media like Twitter. There is no doubt that this media discourse – based on his myth and his oral output – forms part of his oeuvre and of his poetics of fiction. It is therefore necessary to analyse it from both a quantitative and qualitative point of view in order to measure his current impact on media holistically. Moreover, the case study that we hereby present opens up a new line of research in the field of literary studies, which means that we need to expand the notion of the writer figure based on the (re)production, circulation and consumption of the authorial image and of the literary text – oral and written – on social networks. It will even help us to reconsider the value of literature in (digital) mass culture and the need to resignify the aesthetics of reception in the era of big data.