Books by Ben Blatt

That is from the new and interesting Nabokov’s Favorite Word is Mauve , by Ben Blatt.  The Hemingway book with the highest usage rate for -ly adverbs, True at First Light , was released only after his death and is considered one of his worst works.  The same pattern is true for Faulkner and Steinbeck, namely that the most highly praised works have relatively low rates of -ly adverb usage.  Among other notable authors surveyed, D.H. Lawrence seems to be the most obvious exception to this regulari...