Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: An Essay in the Old Criticism by George Steiner
Published 1959 · 384 pages · 110,000 words · about 9 hours at an average pace · Essays & Criticism
How hard is Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: An Essay in the Old Criticism to read?
Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: An Essay in the Old Criticism scores 66 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: 68 out of 100
- Erudite comparative vocabulary drawing on theology, philosophy, and aesthetics.
- Sentence structure: 65 out of 100
- Abstraction: 78 out of 100
- Operates at the level of competing metaphysics and aesthetics.
- Information density: 76 out of 100
- Every paragraph carries significant comparative or analytical weight.
- Narrative indirection: 14 out of 100
- Direct comparative argument throughout.
- Symbolic density: 18 out of 100
- The epic-dramatic opposition takes on symbolic resonance.
- Ironic distance: 14 out of 100
- Steiner's tone is earnest and impassioned rather than ironic.
- Resolution withholding: 20 out of 100
- The choice the title poses is deliberately left to the reader.
- Structural complexity: 42 out of 100
- Organized by thematic opposition across four major chapters.
How Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: An Essay in the Old Criticism is regarded
Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: An Essay in the Old Criticism holds a literary regard score of 85 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.