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horrific into something sublime.” Are these literary stunts kin to Philippe Petit’s highwire challenges—undertaken for the thrill and just to show they can be done? Park sees the “The Very Long Sentence” in more philosophical terms, as “a futile hedge against separation, an unwillingness to part from loved ones, the world, life itself.” Perhaps this is why the very long sentence seems most expressive of life at its fullest and most expansive. Below, we bring you five long literary sentences culled from various sources on the subject. These are, of course, not the “5 longest,” nor the “5 best,” nor any other superlative. They are simply five fine examples of The Very Long Sentence in literature. Enjoy reading and re-reading them, and please leave your favorite Very Long Sentence in the comments. At The New Yorker's "Book Club," Jon Michaud points us toward this long sentence, from Samuel Beckett’s Watt. We find the title character, “an obsessively rational servant,” attempting to “see a pattern in how his master, Mr. Knott, rearranges the furniture.” Thus it was not rare to find, on the Sunday, the tallboy on its feet by the fire, and the dressing table on its head by the bed, and the night-stool on its face by the door, and the washand-stand on its back by the window; and, on the Monday, the tallboy on its back by the bed, and the dressing table on its face by the door, and the night-stool on its back by the window and the washand-stand on its feet by the fire; and on the Tuesday… Here, writes Michaud, the long sentence conveys “a desperate attempt to nail down all the possibilities in a given situation, to keep the world under control by enumerating it.” The next example, from Poynter, achieves a very different effect. Instead of listing concrete objects, the sentence below from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby opens up into a series of abstract phrases. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder. Chosen by The American Scholar editors as one of the “ten best sentences,” the passage, writes Roy Peter Clark, achieves quite a feat: “Long sentences don’t usually hold together under the weight of abstractions, but this one sets a clear path to the most important phrase, planted firmly at the end, ‘his capacity for wonder.’” Jane Wong at Tin House’s blog “The Open Bar” quotes the hypnotic sentence below from Jamaica Kincaid’s “The Letter from Home.” I milked the cows, I churned the butter, I stored the cheese, I baked the bread, I brewed the tea, I washed the clothes, I dressed the children; the cat meowed, the dog barked, the horse neighed, the mouse squeaked, the fly buzzed, the goldfish living in a bowl stretched its jaws; the door banged shut, the stairs creaked, the fridge hummed, the curtains billowed up, the pot boiled, the gas hissed through the stove, the tree branches heavy with snow crashed against the roof; my heart beat loudly thud! thud!, tiny beads of water grew folds, I shed my skin… Kincaid’s sentences, Wong writes, “have the ability to simultaneously suspend and propel the reader. We trust her semi-colons and follow until we are surprised to find the period. We stand on that rock of a period---with water all around us, and ask: how did we get here?” The blog Paperback Writer brings us the “puzzle” below from notorious long-sentence-writer Virginia Woolf’s essay “On Being Ill”: Considering how common illness is, how tremendous the spiritual change that it brings, how astonishing, when the lights of health go down, the undiscovered countries that are then disclosed, what wastes and deserts of the soul a slight attack of influenza brings to view, what precipices and lawns sprinkled with bright flowers a little rise of temperature reveals, what ancient and obdurate oaks are uprooted in us by the act of sickness, how we go down into the pit of death and feel the water of annihilation close above our heads and wake thinking to find ourselves in the presence of the angels and harpers when we have a tooth out and come to the surface in the dentist’s arm-chair and confuse his “Rinse the Mouth —- rinse the mouth” with the greeting of the Deity stooping from the floor of Heaven to welcome us – when we think of this, as we are frequently forced to think of it, it becomes strange indeed that illness has not taken its place with love and battle and jealousy among the prime themes of literature. Blogger Rebecca quotes Woolf as a challenge to her readers to become better writers. “This sentence is not something to be feared,” she writes, “it is something to be embraced.” Finally, from The Barnes & Noble Book Blog, we have the very Molly Bloom-like sentence below from John Updike’s Rabbit, Run: But then they were married (she felt awful about being pregnant before but Harry had been talking about marriage for a while and anyway laughed when she told him in early February about missing her period and said Great she was terribly frightened and he said Great and lifted her put his arms around under her bottom and lifted her like you would a child he could be so wonderful when you didn’t expect it in a way it seemed important that you didn’t expect it there was so much nice in him she couldn’t explain to anybody she had been so frightened about being pregnant and he made her be proud) they were married after her missing her second period in March and she was still little clumsy dark-complected Janice Springer and her husband was a conceited lunk who wasn’t good for anything in the world Daddy said and the feeling of being alone would melt a little with a little drink.

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恐ろしい崇高な何かに。 フィリップ ・ プティの highwire 課題にこれらの文学的なスタントの親族は、-スリルと彼らを行うことができますを表示するだけの実施ですか?公園見て」、非常に長い文「より多く哲学の用語で"分離に対する無駄なヘッジ、愛する人世界、人生そのものから一部たがらない。

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Into something terrifying sublime. Philippe Petit's highwire challenge relatives of these literary stunts-thrill and they can is just to show how? see Park ", very long sentences" in more philosophical terms "useless hedge against separation, Joy love

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何か恐ろしい崇高なものに。フィリッププチのこれらの文学的スタント - スリルのハイライトの挑戦の親戚と彼らは方法を示すことができますか？ "朴"を参照してください、非常に長い文章 "より哲学的な言葉で"分離に対する無駄なヘッジ、喜びの愛

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The sublime something horrible. Relatives of literary stunts - the thrill of these Philip PTI highlights challenges and they can demonstrate how? See "Park" a very long sentence unnecessary as a hedge against "more philosophical words" separation, joy, love

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崇高な何か恐ろしい。文学的なスタントの親戚 - これらのフィリップPTIの興奮が課題を強調し、彼らはどのようにデモンストレーションすることができますか？ "より哲学的な言葉"分離、喜び、愛に対するヘッジとして不要な非常に長い文章 "公園"を参照してください

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Something horrible. Relatives of a literary stunt-and highlight the challenges these Philip PTI excitement, they can demonstrate how to do? See long sentences "Park" quite unnecessary as a hedge against the love and joy "is a philosophical term" isolation,

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何か恐ろしいです。文学的なスタントの親戚-、フィリップ PTI 刺激課題を強調表示を行う方法を示すことができますか?愛と喜び「哲学の言葉は」分離、に対するヘッジとして長文非常に不必要な「公園」を見る

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What is horrible. Relatives of a literary stunt-, can show you how to highlight Philip PTI stimulus? love and joy, "philosophical language" separate, to see the Park very long unnecessary as a hedge

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恐ろしいものです。文学的なスタント-、親戚はフィリップ PTI 刺激を強調表示する方法を表示できますか。愛と喜び、「哲学的言語」別のヘッジとして非常に長い不必要なの公園を参照するには

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It is a horrible thing. A literary stunt-, or relatives can see how to highlight Philip PTI stimulation. As a hedge of love and joy, "philosophical language" by a very long Needless to view Park

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恐ろしいことです。文学的なスタント-、または親類は、フィリップ PTI 刺激を強調表示する方法を見ることができます。愛と喜び、公園を表示する非常に長い言うまでもなく、「哲学的言語」のヘッジとして

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It is a terrible thing. A literary stunt-, or relatives can see how to highlight Philip PTI stimulation. Love and joy, to see the Park, very long, not to mention as a hedge of a philosophical language

INTO JAPANESE

それはひどいです。文学的なスタント-、または親類は、フィリップ PTI 刺激を強調表示する方法を見ることができます。愛と喜び、公園、哲学の言葉のヘッジとしてはもちろんのこと、非常に長いを参照するには

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It is terrible. A literary stunt-, or relatives can see how to highlight Philip PTI stimulation. Love and joy, as hedges Park, philosophy of language, not to mention very long to see

INTO JAPANESE

それはひどいです。文学的なスタント-、または親類は、フィリップ PTI 刺激を強調表示する方法を見ることができます。愛と喜びを述べないようにして非常に長い生け垣公園言語哲学として

BACK INTO ENGLISH

It is terrible. A literary stunt-, or relatives can see how to highlight Philip PTI stimulation. Love and joy, not to mention so very long hedge Park language philosophy

INTO JAPANESE

それはひどいです。文学的なスタント-、または親類は、フィリップ PTI 刺激を強調表示する方法を見ることができます。愛と喜びを述べないことそう非常に長いヘッジ公園言語哲学

BACK INTO ENGLISH

It is terrible. A literary stunt-, or relatives can see how to highlight Philip PTI stimulation. That love and joy, not to mention so very long hedge Park language philosophy

INTO JAPANESE

それはひどいです。文学的なスタント-、または親類は、フィリップ PTI 刺激を強調表示する方法を見ることができます。愛し、喜び、そう非常に長い生け垣公園言語哲学はもちろんのこと

BACK INTO ENGLISH

It is terrible. A literary stunt-, or relatives can see how to highlight Philip PTI stimulation. Love, joy, not to mention so very long hedge Park language philosophy

INTO JAPANESE

それはひどいです。文学的なスタント-、または親類は、フィリップ PTI 刺激を強調表示する方法を見ることができます。愛、喜び、そう非常に長い生け垣公園言語哲学はもちろんのこと

BACK INTO ENGLISH

It is terrible. A literary stunt-, or relatives can see how to highlight Philip PTI stimulation. Love, joy, not to mention so very long hedge Park language philosophy