Rites of Passage: Adolescence in Literature by W. Tasker Witham
Published 1974 · 64,000 words · about 5 hours at an average pace · Essays & Criticism
How hard is Rites of Passage: Adolescence in Literature to read?
Rites of Passage: Adolescence in Literature scores 58 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: 60 out of 100
- Introduces anthropological vocabulary alongside literary terms in an integrated way.
- Sentence structure: 55 out of 100
- Abstraction: 72 out of 100
- Bridges anthropological theory and literary close reading at a medium-high level of generality.
- Information density: 70 out of 100
- Covers many novels efficiently without sacrificing argumentative clarity.
- Narrative indirection: 14 out of 100
- Argument is direct and thesis-driven throughout.
- Symbolic density: 14 out of 100
- Discusses ritual symbolism analytically rather than deploying it rhetorically.
- Ironic distance: 100 out of 100
- Earnest scholarly voice with no self-distancing.
- Resolution withholding: 12 out of 100
- Each chapter delivers clear conclusions; no deliberate ambiguity.
- Structural complexity: 33 out of 100
- Chronological-thematic structure is orderly and easy to follow.
How Rites of Passage: Adolescence in Literature is regarded
Rites of Passage: Adolescence in Literature holds a literary regard score of 66 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.