What's this usage of comma, separating of a list of independent clauses?

Question

This is a sentence from the book "The Brothers Karamazov" (page 8):

He spent a disorderly adolescence and youth: he never finished high school; later he landed in some military school, then turned up in the
Caucasus, was promoted, fought a duel, was broken to the ranks,
promoted again, led a wild life, and spent, comparatively, a great
deal of money.

I am totally lost in these commas living in the middle because from my analysis, things are like this: all the separations are a list of something for the giveaway of the last ", and", but I don't understand what are these separations exactly are. Are they independent clauses delibarately missing the subject "he" or something else?

Edwin Ashworth · Answer

It's not too clear, is it! The original as you suspect contains multiple subject deletions. There's also a missing 'was', and the deletions occurring in multiple predicates gets messy in any case.
Below is the same potted history in note fashion (but consistent grammar):
He spent a disorderly adolescence and youth:

(1) He never finished high school.
(2a) Later he landed in some military school –
(2b) then he turned up in the Caucasus,
(2c) [where] [he] was promoted,
(2d) [then] fought a duel and
(2e) was consequently broken to the ranks. [But]
(2f) [he was later] promoted again.

He led a wild life, getting through a great deal of money.

What's this usage of comma, separating of a list of independent clauses?

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