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The New Order of Criticism (2020-2024) is a mixed-methods project combining algorithmic and interpretative approaches to the study of literary criticism. The project expands on a prior study of Swedish book reviews from the years 1906, 1956 and 2006 ('The Order of Criticism', Samuelsson 2013), re-examining and re-evaluating the original results through the use of computational tools, language technology and big data. The aim of the present paper is to discuss early experiences and results from the interdisciplinary approach utilized by the current project, a collaborative process where interpreter and programmer are in dialogue, and where methodologies, and their instantiation in tools, are reflexively discussed from an epistemological point of view. In our analysis we ask: How can insights from working with digital methodologies and tools inform traditional scholarship on literary criticism? How can interpretative approaches and results inform digital methods?.