"In the wayward note, the bumps and curves of the author's mind seem to be laid plain on the paper."
— Horowitz, Alexandra
Author
Date
October 7, 2011
Metaphor
"In the wayward note, the bumps and curves of the author's mind seem to be laid plain on the paper."
Metaphor in Context
But I champion another species of footnote: the wandering footnote. These digressive notes, seeing a sentence that some might consider complete, determine to hijack it with a new set of ever more tangential facts. In the wayward note, the bumps and curves of the author's mind seem to be laid plain on the paper. I came of intellectual age hearing the author's sotto voce asides in the philosophy essays I loved. I still recall footnotes that begin, enticingly, "Imagine that . . . "; "Consider . . . "; or even, in one of J. L. Austin's famous thought experiments, "You have a donkey. . . . " I had the feeling of being taken into confidence by a wise fellow during an erudite lecture, and being told something even more clever and lucid.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Horowitz, Alexandra, "Will the E-Book Kill the Footnote?" New York Times Book Review (October 7, 2011). <Link to NYTimes.com>
Date of Entry
10/10/2011
