–Paul Claudel, French poet, playwright and more wrote in his Journal, “fear of the adjective is the beginning of style”.
–Georges Simenon: “It is said, probably apocryphally, that on completion of yet another novel he would summon his children and shake the typescript vigorously before them, asking, ‘What am I doing, little ones?” to which they would reply ritually, in chorus, ‘You’re getting rid of the adjectives, papa.’”
–“In adapting Mark Twain’s writing for the stage, Mr. Holbrook said he had the best possible guide: Twain himself. ‘He had a real understanding of the difference between the word on the page and delivering it on a platform,’ he told The San Francisco Chronicle in 2011. ‘You have to leave out a lot of adjectives. The performer is an adjective.’”
Principal sources
https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii126/articles/michael-maar-by-their-epithets-shall-ye-know-them
https://www.ft.com/content/ac63ae0e-227a-11ea-b8a1-584213ee7b2b
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/02/theater/hal-holbrook-dead.html
WHEN COMPLEX IS AS SIMPLE AS IT GETS 