Speaker: Leonardo Grotti, Mona Allaert and Patrick Quick
Affiliation: Universiteit Antwerpen, Faculty of Arts, Prinsstraat 13, B-2000, Antwerp
Title:
Abstract: Good Omens is a collaborative novel written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Rising interest in the book, amplified by the success of the recent screen adaptation, has aroused curiosity regarding its realization. We use Rolling Delta and Rolling Classify to detect stylistic signals from each author as these methods reveal authorial takeovers. The same techniques are applied to compare the screenplay of the show to the novel. The results indicate that Good Omens resembles Pratchett’s work more closely. The screenplay is correctly attributed to Gaiman, its sole author, and the comparison reveals that Gaiman may have relied less on the source material over the course of the narrative arc.