It’s all in the numbers
Taking an analytical approach to prose composition, with Michael Allen
Michael Allen
GRUMPY OLD BOOKMAN
Earlier this year Simon and Schuster published a book entitled Nabokov’s Favourite Word Is Mauve, by Ben Blatt. The subtitle of the book is The literary quirks and oddities of our mostloved authors.
Blatt is distinctly shy about biographical info, but he appears to be a Harvard graduate, now working mainly as a writer for some well known US journals. Somewhere along the line he seems to have acquired a sound working knowledge of how to use computers to carry out statistical analyses of large amounts of data; and in his latest book he turns his attention to comparing and contrasting the ways in which famous writers construct their novels.
Blatt’s methodology has been to upload digital copies of several hundred famous novels. These are drawn from two main categories: first, so-called literary ‘classics’ and post-1945 literary prize-winners, such as the Pulitzer and Man Booker awards; and second, books which have appeared high on recent lists of bestsellers, as proclaimed in the New York Times and similar sources. He has then programmed his computer to provide the answers to some intriguing questions.
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July 2017
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