“A few wellchosen words”: A corpus-driven journey through an episode of Ulysses

In this chapter we report on a corpus-driven learning journey through a single chapter of Ulysses, i.e. chapter 8, Lestrygonians, a chapter that is central to the characterisation of Leopold Bloom. Our aim is to provide suggestions about ways in which a student of literature could take advantage of simple corpus techniques to analyse literary works in a stimulating, open-ended way. The fresh perspective afforded by the corpus can complement linear reading and offer quantitative evidence (dis)confirming or adding to existing critical insights.