The long sentence is fine, great, wonderful, delightful, marvellous and many other things besides; though so much depends, I would say, on the manner in which said sentence is punctuated, for it is this, primarily, that directs the flow, or 'profluence', of which our writer is evidently so fond. Clauses, sub-clauses, misplaced colons and the like will always slow the reader up - there can be no denying that. For those afraid of punctuation, therefore, writing in short sentences is an attractive option. For those who can write long sentences and punctuate them in a pleasing manner (a rare species, methinks) all power to them too.
People blame the fad for short sentences on Hemingway, and his stark prose. BUt anyone who has actually read Hemingway can tell you that he wrote long complicated sentences with often only minimal punctuation.
Short sentences came into existence because of my editor back in the late seventies or early eighties who chopped my lovely, long, and loping sentences into shorter ones and removed all subordinates and considered me a heretic for refusing to toe the line and foot the short-sentence bill by high-stepping it over to old Exhibition Stadium to watch the Blue Jays take out everyone's team and I would return with great pieces and he would only see that I had no use for periods at all, at all; but, those were the days, pre-NAFTA, you know, when you could still argue with an editor and not lose your job since I was, at that time, writing only about baseball and baseball was all I thought was worthy of addressing; and, then, I met Jack Morris who broke my heart into a thousand little itty-bitty shattered to smitheruinic pieces so that, natch, I decided I really ought to return to literary journalism (where I could, at the least, keep my heart in tact and not get tapped to shorten sentences anymore); and, for a while, I could make whole paragraphs with one sentence each; and, of course, prove I loved semi-colons, Oxford commas, and all sorts or sundries of brackets (within brackets) without the fear of losing my job or sanity, whichever came first (regardless of who was on second [despite the fact Morris was still pitching]; and, most importantly, no matter who wasn't left in the bullpen).
The long sentence is fine, great, wonderful, delightful, marvellous and many other things besides; though so much depends, I would say, on the manner in which said sentence is punctuated, for it is this, primarily, that directs the flow, or 'profluence', of which our writer is evidently so fond. Clauses, sub-clauses, misplaced colons and the like will always slow the reader up - there can be no denying that. For those afraid of punctuation, therefore, writing in short sentences is an attractive option. For those who can write long sentences and punctuate them in a pleasing manner (a rare species, methinks) all power to them too.
ReplyDeletePeople blame the fad for short sentences on Hemingway, and his stark prose. BUt anyone who has actually read Hemingway can tell you that he wrote long complicated sentences with often only minimal punctuation.
ReplyDeleteShort sentences came into existence because of my editor back in the late seventies or early eighties who chopped my lovely, long, and loping sentences into shorter ones and removed all subordinates and considered me a heretic for refusing to toe the line and foot the short-sentence bill by high-stepping it over to old Exhibition Stadium to watch the Blue Jays take out everyone's team and I would return with great pieces and he would only see that I had no use for periods at all, at all; but, those were the days, pre-NAFTA, you know, when you could still argue with an editor and not lose your job since I was, at that time, writing only about baseball and baseball was all I thought was worthy of addressing; and, then, I met Jack Morris who broke my heart into a thousand little itty-bitty shattered to smitheruinic pieces so that, natch, I decided I really ought to return to literary journalism (where I could, at the least, keep my heart in tact and not get tapped to shorten sentences anymore); and, for a while, I could make whole paragraphs with one sentence each; and, of course, prove I loved semi-colons, Oxford commas, and all sorts or sundries of brackets (within brackets) without the fear of losing my job or sanity, whichever came first (regardless of who was on second [despite the fact Morris was still pitching]; and, most importantly, no matter who wasn't left in the bullpen).
ReplyDeleteCleveland? It. Really. Sucked.