The Deceptive Realism of Machado de Assis by John Gledson
Published 1984 · 95,000 words · about 8 hours at an average pace · Essays & Criticism
How hard is The Deceptive Realism of Machado de Assis to read?
The Deceptive Realism of Machado de Assis scores 65 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 critical vocabulary combined with historical analysis of Brazilian society; some Portuguese terms used.
- Sentence structure: 58 out of 100
- Abstraction: 70 out of 100
- Theoretical claims about realism and ideology are grounded in detailed textual and historical evidence.
- Information density: 76 out of 100
- Dense with historical context and close reading; each chapter tracks multiple levels of analysis simultaneously.
- Narrative indirection: 16 out of 100
- Argument is stated early and developed systematically; Gledson is direct about what he is claiming.
- Symbolic density: 16 out of 100
- Limited symbolic register in the critical prose itself; symbolic analysis is directed at Machado's texts.
- Ironic distance: 14 out of 100
- Earnest scholarly argument with minimal irony; Gledson argues for serious political purposes.
- Resolution withholding: 13 out of 100
- Each chapter reaches a clear conclusion; the overall argument about deceptive realism is fully stated.
- Structural complexity: 42 out of 100
- Integrates historical argument and close reading across multiple novels; requires sustained attention to connections.
How The Deceptive Realism of Machado de Assis is regarded
The Deceptive Realism of Machado de Assis holds a literary regard score of 81 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.