Thank you @Dwight Ward. I read it again and you confirmed my summation that he wrote his thoughts very descriptively about each and probably every little thing that distracted him or not from what he really wanted to do - focus on what he wanted to write about or better still waiting for inspiration. So I really could have stopped reading at the first comma. It was like trying to get a word in to someone who just will not let you. (smile)
Best sentence, ever, was a line from a tune my band played: "Little old lady got mutilated late last night, werewolves of London, again....." (Warren Zevon) It just rolls off your tongue........ I know, nothing to do with the sentence referenced by the op. I read that sentence, and thought its author needed to go back to school to relearn his lessons on sentence structure, plain and simple! Also, "I milked the breasts of my thought dry....."??? Gimme a break!
I think I'm getting what you're saying - that there are just too many contrasting.thoughts expressed in a single sentence? If Holmes had written a shorter sentence for each idea, would that have satisfied your objection? The metaphors Holmes used would not have worked in shorter sentences, as the shorter sentences would need to be more literal. No one agrees with me but I still think it's good writing.
@Dwight Ward. I don't really object to his writing I just wanted to understand why he wrote it that way. I see it as exactly how our thoughts enter our minds -- always changing and never too long. If one thought was too long then I see that as 'pondering' on the subject.
I believe that might have been one of the writing styles of the time, but I'm not a literary expert, but I am interested in local history and read many accounts of the Wyoming Massacre which occurred in 1778 in Pennsylvania. The earliest written was in the 1800's from interviews with what was left of survivors. I never finished the book because of the paragraph long single sentences were laboriously difficult to go through.
Ed, as I stated my opinion in another post, maybe the difficulty is not 'long' sentences', but BAD long sentences. Long sentences don't have to be incomprehensible.
Is it related to the standards of the time though? Language evolves. Look what passes for texting language these days, a modern phenomena. Yay verily I say.
I get your point ( I think ). Our language has devolved rather than evolved. I agree.Simplistic thoughts expressed in the fewest, shortest childish words. Text messaging is the prime example but the tendency extends to other forms of communication.
Devolution is certainly the appropriate word. It's a constant written and verbal indication of our general societal direction. There is no greater form of abuse than to truncate the development of another human being. Examples abound.
I want to make some points about this discussion. I've enjoyed it. I think good debate should be a learning process for both sides. We learn where we agree on issues and try to justify where we differ. In my case also, I discover opinions I hold that I wasn't even aware of because I've never discussed such issues with anyone. If we could extend that to current debate about political issues instead of just shouting at each other, the world might seem less scary and crazy.
About The Atlantic in which this article appeared : Quoting, "The Atlantic is an American lifestyle magazine and multi-platform publisher. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, Massachusetts, as The Atlantic Monthly, a literary and cultural commentary magazine that published leading writers' commentary on the abolition of slavery, education, and other major issues in contemporary political affairs." If The Atlantic's long legacy is carried on by the present researchers and writers ( and no guarantee that it is ), then I'd value their take on things over other contemporary interpreters.
I am still puzzling about WHY you think it is good writing, @Dwight Ward ? If it is the content, then could not the exact same content been in expressed in a different way and still been as impressive for content ? Or is it simply because of the lengthy convoluted sentence structure ?