The Myth of Sisyphus, and Other Essays by Albert Camus
Published 1991 · 55,060 words · about 4 hours at an average pace · Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction
How hard is The Myth of Sisyphus, and Other Essays to read?
The Myth of Sisyphus, and Other Essays scores 56 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: 55 out of 100
- Camus's translated prose is mostly plain, but it carries philosophical terms (antinomy, transcendence, phenomenology) and names from Kierkegaard to Husserl. It is harder than Notes from Underground in places but lighter than Ulysses.
- Sentence structure: 50 out of 100
- Sentences are mostly short and aphoristic, with some long, paradox-laden periods in the Husserl and Kierkegaard sections. The lyrical essays flow more freely, but nothing approaches Jamesian nesting.
- Abstraction: 78 out of 100
- The main essay is pure philosophical argument about meaning, death and reason. The Algiers, Oran and Tipasa essays ground it in concrete scenes, such as boxing matches and swimmers, which keeps the book below Notes from Underground.
- Information density: 65 out of 100
- Each paragraph packs claims, quotations and references to Jaspers, Chestov, Kierkegaard and Kafka, and the reader has to track them all. The lyrical essays loosen the pace, so the density sits near Flights.
How The Myth of Sisyphus, and Other Essays is regarded
The Myth of Sisyphus, and Other Essays holds a literary regard score of 90 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.