The Authentic I Ching by Andrew H. Plaks
Published 1980 · 110,000 words · about 9 hours at an average pace · Non-Fiction, Literary Criticism, Essays & Criticism
How hard is The Authentic I Ching to read?
The Authentic I Ching scores 55 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
- Scholarly prose with Chinese philosophical terminology (yin/yang, trigrams, hexagrams, dao, de) and I Ching-specific vocabulary. The interplay of Chinese originals, transliterations, and English renderings demands attention. Academic but written for accessibility.
- Sentence structure: 58 out of 100
- Clear scholarly exposition with analytical passages of moderate complexity. The commentary format (text + interpretation) keeps sentences purposeful. Less syntactically demanding than theoretical criticism but more complex than popular introductions.
- Abstraction: 75 out of 100
- The I Ching itself operates at high metaphysical abstraction—cosmological principles, hexagram symbolism, the nature of change. Plaks's commentary mediates between the text's abstract symbolism and accessible explanation. The subject matter is inherently abstract.
- Information density: 78 out of 100
- Dense with philological detail, philosophical commentary, and comparative analysis. Each hexagram receives concentrated attention. The interplay of original text, translation choices, and interpretive tradition creates multi-layered density.
- Narrative indirection: 22 out of 100
- The thesis about ironic complementarity is stated clearly; evidence accumulates through extended close reading rather than linear argument.
- Symbolic density: 18 out of 100
- Plaks's method is analytical analysis of symbolic structures within the primary text rather than his own symbolic argumentation.
- Ironic distance: 15 out of 100
- Academic register is earnest; Plaks discusses irony as an object of study rather than performing it.
- Resolution withholding: 12 out of 100
- Critical argument is fully disclosed; interpretive conclusions are reached systematically through each structural analysis.
- Structural complexity: 48 out of 100
- The study's own structure mirrors its argument — chapters track the novel's complementary structural pairs.
How The Authentic I Ching is regarded
The Authentic I Ching 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.