Introduction to the Attribution of Literature

Introduction to the Attribution of Literature describes the first unbiased and accessible authorship attribution method, and uses it to present the first accurate re-attribution of 311 canonical texts from the 18th century to only 10 ghostwriters, and 323 texts from the 19th century to 11 ghostwriters. For example, the little-known Sir Francis Cowley Burnand is chronologically, stylometrically, and with handwriting analysis, proven to be the ghostwriter behind 55 canonical tested texts, including "e;Emily Bronte's"e; Wuthering Heights, "e;Collins'"e; Woman in White, "e;Doyle's"e; Sherlock Holmes, "e;Kipling's"e; Captain Courageous, "e;Stoker's"e; Dracula, "e;Anthony Trollope's"e; American Senator, "e;Wells'"e; Island of Doctor Moreau, "e;Wilde's"e; Picture of Dorian Gray, and "e;Dickens'"e; Great Expectations. This method applies a combination of 23 to 28 different types of punctuation, parts-of-speech, and lexical linguistic tests. Parts of this book offer extensive statistical evidence in support of why this method's findings are quantitatively reliable. If preceding attribution methods had been equally reliable; then, they would have also concluded canonical British texts have been overwhelmingly ghostwritten. A section in this book explains the methodological flaws of these preceding attribution approaches, because of which they have incorrectly reaffirmed their canonically-accepted bylines. It includes definitions of central stylometric terminology, and explains how readers can apply the described strategies to their own attribution research at any academic level.