The Theatre of the Absurd by Martin Esslin
Published 1961 · 480 pages · 149,973 words · about 10 hours at an average pace · Essays & Criticism
How hard is The Theatre of the Absurd to read?
The Theatre of the Absurd 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: 60 out of 100
- Clear scholarly prose with philosophical vocabulary used accessibly.
- Sentence structure: 55 out of 100
- Abstraction: 72 out of 100
- Philosophical framing throughout, grounded in close dramatic analysis.
- Information density: 75 out of 100
- Dense with plot summaries, critical analysis, and literary-historical context.
- Narrative indirection: 14 out of 100
- Direct scholarly argument organized by playwright.
- Symbolic density: 14 out of 100
- Analytical rather than symbolic, though the plays discussed are highly symbolic.
- Ironic distance: 14 out of 100
- Earnest critical register.
- Resolution withholding: 12 out of 100
- Each chapter delivers clear critical judgments.
- Structural complexity: 38 out of 100
- Organized by playwright with framing chapters on philosophy and tradition.
How The Theatre of the Absurd is regarded
The Theatre of the Absurd holds a literary regard score of 82 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.