Nartopo
Nartopo is a comparative literature database and visualization engine. It maps works of narrative fiction against 11 structural frameworks, from Greimas and Genette to Save the Cat. It plots the results so books and authors can be compared by shape.
Nartopo is a comparative literature database and visualization engine that treats narrative structure as data. In the General Systems Ventures portfolio it carries the designation GSV-A1, with pace-layer letter A. It is listed as shipped. Each text in the database is analyzed against an 11-point matrix of narrative frameworks. The matrix mixes literary theory with commercial pacing tools. Greimas's Actantial Model, Todorov's Equilibrium Model and Genette's Narrative Discourse represent the theory side. Save the Cat represents the commercial side. The matrix also includes the Freytag Pyramid, Propp's Morphology of the Folktale, the Monomyth, Dan Harmon's Story Circle, Kishōtenketsu, the Three-Act Structure and a Protocol Fiction Mapping from Summer of Protocols. The same work can therefore be scored by several incompatible theories of what a story is. The analyses extract structural and statistical metadata about how authors construct their worlds and manipulate time. They also examine how authors engineer systemic failure. The data lives as one markdown file per work in a `data/` directory. A framework reference file and an analysis template sit alongside it. The corpus is mostly science fiction and speculative fiction. It includes a large set of Borges stories. Authors include Ada Palmer and Iain M. Banks. Kim Stanley Robinson, Asimov and Herbert are also present. A key design decision is that the repository stores only metadata and analytical markdown. The project's agent workflows prohibit distributing or committing copyrighted raw text or EPUB files. This keeps the project within an academic, non-profit, fair-use scope. The interactive web app is live at nartopo.com. It offers scatter plots and radar charts. It also offers force-directed graph traversal, so works can be compared with each other and with their authors. The provided material names no related GSV portfolio projects. The repository is set up for autonomous agents. An AGENTS.md tells them what to read before running commands. Work is tracked in beads.