Theory of Literature by René Wellek
Published 1949 · 85,000 words · about 7 hours at an average pace · Essays & Criticism
How hard is Theory of Literature to read?
Theory of Literature 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
- Standard critical vocabulary of mid-twentieth-century formalism and New Criticism; accessible to graduate readers.
- Sentence structure: 58 out of 100
- Abstraction: 75 out of 100
- Theoretical argument about literature and criticism balanced with illustrative examples.
- Information density: 76 out of 100
- Encyclopedic coverage across methodological approaches.
- Narrative indirection: 12 out of 100
- Survey format is direct and organizational.
- Symbolic density: 12 out of 100
- Analytical and taxonomic throughout.
- Ironic distance: 100 out of 100
- Even-handed and non-polemical in register.
- Resolution withholding: 100 out of 100
- Positions are evaluated and conclusions drawn throughout.
- Structural complexity: 40 out of 100
- Organized by methodological approach with clear chapter divisions and cross-references.
How Theory of Literature is regarded
Theory of Literature holds a literary regard score of 86 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.