Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Published 1832 · 777 pages · 37,694 words · about 3 hours at an average pace · Drama, Poetry
How hard is Faust to read?
Faust scores 69 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: 75 out of 100
- German literary language with coinages, classical allusions, and range of registers.
- Sentence structure: 70 out of 100
- Varied verse forms from folk song to classical meters; Part Two especially complex.
- Abstraction: 85 out of 100
- Philosophical allegory throughout; Part Two becomes symbolic and abstract.
- Information density: 70 out of 100
- Allusions to mythology, history, and philosophy require annotation.
- Narrative indirection: 65 out of 100
- Part Two's allegory requires interpretation; symbols are not explained.
- Symbolic density: 85 out of 100
- The pact, the Easter bells, Helen of Troy, the reclaimed land—dense symbolic architecture.
- Ironic distance: 55 out of 100
- Mephistopheles provides ironic commentary; Faust's enthusiasm is double-edged.
- Resolution withholding: 40 out of 100
- Faust is saved despite the bet; the resolution is famously debated.
- Structural complexity: 80 out of 100
- Two parts written decades apart; Part Two abandons realism for allegory.
How Faust is regarded
Faust holds a literary regard score of 93 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.