STYLOMETRY OF LEXICAL PATTERNS AND IDENTITY FORMATION IN EVERETT’S ERASURE AND I AM NOT SIDNEY POITIER: A CORPUS STYLISTICS STUDY

Abstract

This paper evaluates the stylistic features and lexical patterns in Percival Everett’s novels Erasure and I Am Not Sidney Poitier to find out the formation of identity through a corpus stylometric lens. Using a digital text mining software, Voyant Tools, this research applies computational methods to extract word frequency, vocabulary density, collocation patterns, and syntactic features that contribute to identity formation in Everett’s fiction. The evaluation reflects significant variations in lexical patterns, repetitions, and collocations across the two novels. Erasure reveals a linguistically dense and emotionally charged style, interrogating the exploitation of Black identity through metafictional narrative. In contrast, I Am Not Sidney Poitier is more dialogic and has an ironic tone, illustrating a protagonist's journey through racial and social misrecognition. Through this integration of digital humanities and literary theory, the study highlights how Everett’s language resists fixed notions of Blackness and authorship, offering a dynamic model for identity construction in contemporary African American literature.