A History of German Literature by Volker Meid
Published 1997 · 260,342 words · about 18 hours at an average pace · Essays & Criticism
How hard is A History of German Literature to read?
A History of German Literature scores 55 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it quite demanding. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 58 out of 100
- Reference-work prose that prioritizes clarity over rhetorical sophistication.
- Sentence structure: 50 out of 100
- Abstraction: 65 out of 100
- Historical generalization grounded firmly in individual works and movements.
- Information density: 80 out of 100
- Dense reference coverage across twelve centuries of literary history.
- Narrative indirection: 100 out of 100
- Chronological structure and clear expository purpose make indirection impossible.
- Symbolic density: 12 out of 100
- Historical and critical rather than interpretive in register.
- Ironic distance: 100 out of 100
- Scholarly neutrality maintained consistently.
- Resolution withholding: 100 out of 100
- Each section concludes its argument about the period or author covered.
- Structural complexity: 42 out of 100
- Multi-part chronological structure with thematic subchapters within each period.
How A History of German Literature is regarded
A History of German Literature holds a literary regard score of 73 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.