From Richard Rorty’s Contingency, Irony, Solidarity (1989):
Nobody wants a complete set of footnotes to The Post Card any more than they want one to Finnegans Wake, Tristram Shandy, or Remembrance of Things Past. The reader’s relation with the authors of such books depends largely upon her being left alone to dream up her own footnotes.But what would count as a complete set of footnotes? And how could ever know that it was complete?
Me, in something I wrote for students some years ago: “Literature exceeds criticism. There are no complete interpretations; there are only complete poems, novels, plays.”
Related reading
A handful of OCA Richard Rorty posts (Pinboard)
[La carte postale: De Socrate à Freud et au-delà (1980) is a work by Jacques Derrida.]
comments: 6
I never heard of him, but who is Rorty to say what readers want? Simple solution: The author includes as many footnotes as his heart desires. Some authors believe their work is complete only with footnotes. Readers who want to form their own interpretations have the option to skip footnotes or any other part of a work. But the footnotes are available to those who want the author's input or to review a source. Make the footnotes into endnotes for those who don't want a sneak peek or who are tempted to interrupt the reading experience/flow by straying from the text. (For history books, I often skip the endnotes.) For ebooks, add a feature where the footnotes are hidden, viewable only when selected. Jeesh. Some people always want to dictate how/what/where others enjoy individual pleasures in life.
Rorty was an American philosopher. I take him to be standing for readerly freedom here — reading a work of literature unburdened by explanations found in an annotated edition. The Penguin edition of Bleak House that I just read has too many of those intrusive (end)notes telling the reader that some particular detail is connected to the such-and-such theme. Pretty annoying.
Rorty has plenty of footnotes, but he’s not writing something like the works he mentions here.
I'll tell you what I dislike: An obscure "expert" who writes an overly long foreword to a great book. They write a dissertation, hoping to gain an audience that would not have read (or even heard of) their contribution if not for its inclusion in the book. I'll read a few pages, but once I realize the effort required, I typically skip to the book. (To be fair, I have read some forewords, such as those to Homer's works, which are useful. In Lombardo's translation of Iliad, the foreword by Sheila Murnaghan is labeled "Introduction," but I've always used "Introduction" for introductory text by the author, and "Foreword" for that written by someone else.) Just my opinion.
Attention, publishers: I’m an obscure expert (on some things) seeking an audience. Will consider all reasonable offers to write an overly long foreword. Word count? You name it, I’ll double it, no problem, no extra charge. Include SASE for prompt reply.
Hilarious!
Thanks :)
Post a Comment