I have refused them so often, and left the out so much, and did without them so continually that I have come finally to be indifferent to them. I do not now care whether you put them in or not, but for a long time I felt very definitely about them and would have nothing to do with them.

As I say: commas are servile and they have no life of their own, and their use is not a use, it is a way of replacing one’s own interest. a And I do decidedly like to like my own interest, my own interest, in what I am doing. A comma, by helping you along, holding your coat for you, and putting on your shoes, keeps you from living your life as actively as you should lead it, and to me, for many years, and I still do feel that way about it, only now I do not pay as much attention to them,; the use of them was positively degrading. Let me tell you what I feel, and what I mean, and what I felt, and what I meant.

When I was writing those long sentences of The Making of Americans, verbs, active present verbs, with long dependent adverbial clauses, became a passion with me. I have told you that I recognize verbs and adverbs aided by prepositions and conjunctions with pronouns as possessing the whole of the active life of writing.  ⟶