History and Memory by Jacques Le Goff
Published 1988 · 288 pages · 80,000 words · about 7 hours at an average pace · Essays & Criticism
How hard is History and Memory to read?
History and Memory scores 68 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: 62 out of 100
- Scholarly but accessible; the Annales tradition favors clear analytical prose over theoretical jargon.
- Sentence structure: 55 out of 100
- Abstraction: 72 out of 100
- Abstract distinctions between history and memory are grounded in specific historical examples from antiquity to modernity.
- Information density: 76 out of 100
- Dense historical scholarship; each section covers substantial ground from multiple historical periods and cultures.
- Narrative indirection: 15 out of 100
- Proceeds historically and analytically; Le Goff states his distinctions clearly and builds through historical evidence.
- Symbolic density: 12 out of 100
- Analytical prose examining how symbols function in commemorative practice rather than a symbolically dense text itself.
- Ironic distance: 100 out of 100
- Earnest Annales scholarship; Le Goff's analytical detachment is scholarly rather than ironic.
- Resolution withholding: 100 out of 100
- Chapters reach clear analytical conclusions about how history and memory differ and interact.
- Structural complexity: 35 out of 100
- Organized around key concepts — memory, history, past, present — developed historically and analytically in sequence.
How History and Memory is regarded
History and Memory holds a literary regard score of 79 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.