Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method by Gérard Genette
Published 1972 · 288 pages · 70,000 words · about 6 hours at an average pace · Essays & Criticism
How hard is Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method to read?
Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method 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: 78 out of 100
- Introduces a dense technical vocabulary (focalization, diegesis, homodiegetic, metalepsis) that must be learned as the argument proceeds.
- Sentence structure: 72 out of 100
- Abstraction: 85 out of 100
- Primarily concerned with abstract narrative categories; Proust is illustration rather than end point.
- Information density: 85 out of 100
- Every paragraph introduces or refines a category; the information density is among the highest in literary theory.
- Narrative indirection: 14 out of 100
- Analytical and classificatory throughout; claims are stated precisely.
- Symbolic density: 12 out of 100
- The analytic register is formal and taxonomic rather than symbolic.
- Ironic distance: 100 out of 100
- Earnest systematic analysis; occasional dry precision but no irony.
- Resolution withholding: 100 out of 100
- Each category is defined and resolved explicitly.
- Structural complexity: 55 out of 100
- The three-part framework (time, mood, voice) is tightly interlocking; categories depend on each other throughout.
How Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method is regarded
Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method holds a literary regard score of 48 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.