Short Story Theory at a Crossroads by Susan Lohafer
Published 1989 · 74,225 words · about 6 hours at an average pace · Essays & Criticism
How hard is Short Story Theory at a Crossroads to read?
Short Story Theory at a Crossroads scores 63 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: 65 out of 100
- Multi-contributor volume with varying registers, some essays employing technical narratological vocabulary.
- Sentence structure: 58 out of 100
- Abstraction: 74 out of 100
- Theoretical plurality means high abstraction in methodology-focused chapters.
- Information density: 75 out of 100
- Dense survey volume covering many theoretical positions and primary texts.
- Narrative indirection: 13 out of 100
- Scholarly essays argue positions directly.
- Symbolic density: 100 out of 100
- Analytical rather than metaphorically dense.
- Ironic distance: 100 out of 100
- Standard academic register throughout.
- Resolution withholding: 14 out of 100
- Some essays raise open questions about the field's theoretical future.
- Structural complexity: 40 out of 100
- Multi-essay anthology structure requiring readers to synthesise competing frameworks.
How Short Story Theory at a Crossroads is regarded
Short Story Theory at a Crossroads holds a literary regard score of 39 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.