Speaking broadly.
As far as blindly dating a book goes, certain trends like present tense have had a major uptick, sure, but that seems less progressive than it is cyclic. Another indicator might be micro chapters, but that seems to depend on the genre.
I know, these things change gradually, but has common prose changed that much in the last fifty years? Where is the last prose-identifiable antiquation line? What's the newest old book?
As far as blindly dating a book goes, certain trends like present tense have had a major uptick, sure, but that seems less progressive than it is cyclic. Another indicator might be micro chapters, but that seems to depend on the genre.
I know, these things change gradually, but has common prose changed that much in the last fifty years? Where is the last prose-identifiable antiquation line? What's the newest old book?
