Which classic novel is famously associated with both a very long sentence and a very short letter?

toughynutter

Les Miz "Victor Hugo almost set the world’s record for short letter writing. A month or so after the octavo edition of Les Miserables was published he wrote to his publisher the following: ? Victor Hugo " http://daveshields.wordpress.com/2006/10/17/on-steve-ogradys-post-where-to-innovate-let-others-make-the-call/ "Many people attribute the longest sentence in literature to Victor Hugo. The claim is that a sentence in Les Miserables, 823 words long, earns that title. The source most often given for this, if a source is given, is Timothy Fullerton's Triviata: A Compendium of Useless Information, published in 1975. Unfortunately, Fullerton was in error. At best, it is the longest sentence in French literature, though I can't confirm that.*" http://www.gavroche.org/vhugo/sentence.shtml Mar 18 07, 10:39 PM

gmackematix

Vive la response! Oui TN. The infamously long sentence is a rather overblown description of King Louis Philippe, which leaves me, after 823 words, little the wiser as to what the monarch actually looks like: In the following translation, an exclamation mark in the middle makes its status as one sentence questionable: http://daveshields.wordpress.com/2006/10/17/on-steve-ogradys-post-where-to-innovate-let-others-make-the-call/ Anyway, this sentence does seem to be outdone by an 847 word one in that notorious exercise in unnecessary verbosity, "La Recherche de Temps Perdu" by Marcel Proust. This was the book that was returned by one publisher who could not understand why anyone needs thirty pages to describe someone turning over before going to sleep. The book was, of course, published with that passage uncut. Mar 19 07, 5:14 PM

queproblema

We should also credit Hugo's publisher for his equally short reply: "!". (And nit-pickers can argue over the use and position of my final period.) http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1526197 I'd like to know who the individual at the publishing house was. The company was Hurst and Blackett. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo Dec 01 07, 4:58 PM