In praise of the adverb

I have previously inveighed in these pages against the absurd injunction against the use of adverbs in fiction.

I am distressed to note that this injunction appears even in the otherwise admirable UEA Creative Writing Coursebook:

( Creative Writing Coursebook Against The Adverb )

Hm, perhaps the Creative Writing Coursebook is not all that admirable, after all. As is no coursebook that doles out prescription and proscription.

For the Adverb

Because here is the counter-proof. I am reading The Line of Beauty and remembered why I love Alan Hollinghurst's luscious baroque and adverbially rich prose:

( Adverbial delights )

I challenge anyone to improve the above passage by taking out the adverbs.

And just for the sexy heck of it :

( Sodomy in Hollinghurst )

A lesson in masterful prose: the use of the long, rambling sentence, the interspersed dialogue, the unobtrusive flashback, the mix of erudite ('liberated bounce', 'sphincter') and blunt ('fucked', 'dick'). And gay. Not slashy. Definitely gay.

Quote from Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty, 2004