What happens
when you observe more space occupied by footnote than the main text?
And what when
it happens page after page? When it looks like never ending? With lot of patience I counted footnotes on
the first 100 pages of the book and I came across as many as 123 footnotes. Is
it not an overwhelming number?
Footnote is
not something new to me. I have come across it as a reader and have used it –
but used sparingly – as is the norm. I generally find them useful.
But during
last few days, while reading
The Life of Ramkrishna by
Romain Rolland, I found too many footnotes. A dramatist, novelist, art historian who has prestigious Nobel Prize
for Literature in his name, cannot be doubted about his writing skills. I was baffled with the amount of footnotes he
has used. That I found some of the
footnotes highly interesting did not make things easier for me.
There is
another interesting phenomenon I have observed simultaneously. I have this book
in my collection since January 1991, for the last twenty years. Sri Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa is one of my favorite teachers. My journey with him has been interesting. I was attracted by his simplicity and clarity but at the same time he challenged my rational thinking - it was a difficult task for me to understand him. But he never demanded anything from me and thus won my head and heart both. I keep on reading this book as and when I want.I read it partially or
fully as per my desire. In my earlier readings, I never remember to have noted
these many footnotes – maybe I just went ahead without paying attention to
them. Why I stumbled across footnotes this time is another mystery – but I will
save it for another time.
Footnote is
supposed to provide additional information. Wikipedia says:
Notes are most often used as an alternative to long
explanatory notes that can be distracting to readers. Most literary style
guidelines (including the Modern Language Association and
the American Psychological Association)
recommend limited use of foot and endnotes. However, publishers often encourage
note references in lieu of parenthetical references. Aside from use as a
bibliographic element, notes are used for additional information or explanatory
notes that might be too digressive for the main text.
What do these
excessive footnotes indicate?
- That the matter under discussions is complex?
- That the subject has too many interlinks – all of which
cannot be explained?
- That the author has much more information on the topic and
he is limited by the space?
- That the matter of this book depends on many external
resources?
- The first edition of the book was published in January
1929. So, does this indicate that norms and practices change as per the
time?
What does my
observing those Footnotes and thinking about it indicates? That sometimes I observe
obvious things very late? That I interpret the world around as per my wishes?
Maybe, there is one
lesson for me.
I should be cautious
about Footnotes taking precedence over the Main Text.
Keeping those two at
their respective places with the right perspective is the key towards making
life more meaningful.
******
You might like to read
Appeal of Despair
