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"Term map" of network density of characters in That Summer in Paris, created with VOSviewer

The visualisation above is a term map, which Van Eck and Waltman describe as "a two-dimensional map in which terms are located in such a way that the distance between two terms can be interpreted as an indication of the relatedness of the terms. In general, the smaller the distance between two terms, the stronger the terms are related to each other. The relatedness of terms is determined based on co-occurrences in documents" (2011, p. 50).

 

"Closeness centrality" visualisation of relationships between characters, created with Gephi

 

This network diagram represents the "closeness centrality" of the characters in That Summer in Paris. Closeness centrality is calculated using complex statistical methods, but for our purposes here we can understand it in layperson's terms as representing how closely each person in the diagram is related to all the other people. Although Callaghan is not mentioned in the text as often as Hemingway or Fitzgerald, he appears in proximity to many more of the characters than Hemingway and Fitzgerald do, so he is correspondingly more prominent in the closeness centrality diagram.

 

In the term map, the proximity of Hemingway and Fitzgerald are close together; but they are not represented as having a closely formed friendship in the novel. They are never actually seen together, and any interactions Morley has with either man is one-on-one. This is not to say that the men are not acquainted; Hemingway especially appears to have a strong grasp on Scott Fitzgerald’s personality as he talks about him, which soon leads to Morley’s curiosity about why, if they are friends, they are not seen together in person. Therefore, what this representation most accurately shows is how closely considered the two men are in Callaghan’s thoughts.

The ‘term’ Zelda Fitzgerald inhabits the right-hand corner of the map alone. In the text Zelda strikes Morley as such an intense individual, that several of the first person descriptions are closely focused on her, even when Scott Fitzgerald and others are around. For example, she approaches Morley one evening and insistently tells him: 'I write prose. It's good prose' (Callaghan 1996). He reflects on why she told him this, and later when Fitzgerald angrily packs her into a car and tells her to go home while the rest of the group continue their evening, Callaghan watches how 'her whole manner changed' and perceives it as one of the signs of her 'impending breakdown.' In placing her away from Scott Fitzgerald, the map perhaps doesn't necessarily portray the bond of marriage accurately; but it does convey how internally and externally alienated Zelda was - the most interesting point in the map in my opinion. Slightly contrasting with this, map two conveys Zelda as being slightly less alienated than in map one; however, the fact her name is written in tiny letters compared to her husband F. Scott Fitzgerald in large lettering, links back to the moment that she insisted upon the ‘good prose’ that she wrote and supports the suggestion that she was perhaps living in the shadow of her husband’s talent.

Morley Callaghan’s relationship with Hemingway, Fitzgerald and other such writers is represented as being weaker than many of the other intersecting characters - due to the first person style of narrative meaning that Callaghan’s name occurs less often. The wives of James Joyce, Hemingway and Fitzgerald are placed with fairly close proximity to their husbands names on the Term Map, however this is slightly misleading given the female characters’ modest appearances throughout the text; usually only appearing when with their husbands - or even more likely merely being referred to in context of their husband’s names.

Map one shows that Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Max Perkin’s have a close relationship, reflected by the fact that Perkins was the two writers’ editor. Callaghan is also closely connected with Perkins on the Density map, however unlike Hemingway and Fitzgerald is represented as being on a separate ‘island’, due to his less concrete affiliation. Map one also has negative aspects however, as certain characters who do spend time in each other’s company are represented as being largely estranged on the map. An example of this would be Joan Miró’s position on the map, which displays the figure as being majoritively disconnected from the main bulk of the characters. However in Chapter Twenty, we see an excursion to the Boxing gym with Hemingway, Callaghan and Miró - an event which is not reflected by the positioning of the men’s names.  Another similar instance of this would be Jimmy the Barman at the Falstaff, whose role as a barman in one of the most frequented bars by Hemingway, Callaghan and Fitzgerald, is not strongly reflected. Located on an ‘island’ of his own; Jimmy’s interaction with Robert Mcalmon in the near-bar-fight scene of Chapter Twenty-Four is the strongest connection depicted for the character, despite his frequent interactions with Callaghan and others.

Both the term map and the closeness central visualisation of map two represent the geographical aspects of the text well.The largest island depicts Paris, with writers and also editor Max Perkins the famous Quarter in Paris. It also makes sense that Hemingway is the most prominent term here - Hemingway is the most mentioned, while Morley referenced only 11% of the time. The second furthest away island symbolises Toronto, and the focus between Morley and Harry Hindmarsh’s focused, and sometimes conflicting relationship at the beginning. The smallest island of all is New York - where the character of Sinclair Lewis remains largely removed from the rest of the characters, because geographically speaking, he is. Similarly, map two shows how relationships are more closely linked when they are in geographical terms, closer together; though I find it is more effective in representing the intricacies between the bigger, and smaller, relationships between people.

Works Cited
 
Van Eck, N. J., and L. Waltman. 2011. 'Text Mining and Visualization Using VOSviewer'. ISSI Newsletter 7 (3): 50–54.

Callaghan, Morley. That Summer in Paris: Memories of Friendships with Ernest Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald, 1963. http://fitzgerald.narod.ru/bio/callaghan-thatsum.html