Transcendentalism and Its Legacy by Myron Simon
Published 1966 · 95,000 words · about 8 hours at an average pace · Essays & Criticism
How hard is Transcendentalism and Its Legacy to read?
Transcendentalism and Its Legacy scores 57 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
- Accessible scholarly prose with philosophical vocabulary that is generally explained.
- Sentence structure: 55 out of 100
- Abstraction: 70 out of 100
- Philosophical and historical argument at a high but accessible level.
- Information density: 70 out of 100
- Rich with historical and intellectual context across a range of essays.
- Narrative indirection: 100 out of 100
- Direct scholarly argument throughout.
- Symbolic density: 12 out of 100
- Analytical; Transcendentalism's own symbols are objects of study.
- Ironic distance: 100 out of 100
- Measured and earnest scholarly register.
- Resolution withholding: 100 out of 100
- Each essay reaches its conclusions.
- Structural complexity: 35 out of 100
- Edited collection organized thematically with clear editorial framing.
How Transcendentalism and Its Legacy is regarded
Transcendentalism and Its Legacy holds a literary regard score of 69 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.