Center and periphery in the Spanish Byzantine novel. Exploring literary places with spatial networks

Abstract

A spatial characteristic that stands out in the models of the Spanish Byzantine genre (Ethiopica, Persiles) is the presence of a geographic center and periphery. Following the continuously growing interest in the use of digital Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze the literary space, this article discusses digital methods to automatically compute the geographical center and periphery of the places mentioned in a text, in particular, Baroque novels of the Spanish Byzantine genre. Using the R programming language, the method consists of converting geolocated places into spatial networks, applying to them network metrics (eigencentrality) and visualizing the metrics on maps. Based on the geographical proximity of geolocated places, the approach allows to automatically visualize and measure its central and peripheral distribution. The results suggest Spain as a geographical core in the novels.