infinite footnotes

[Robert Bruno]

I'm a little over halfway through IJ and I can't help but be infinitely 
annoyed by the footnotes, esp. the verbose ones.  What literary function 
do they serve, besides pissing off the reader?  Yes, they do help explain 
and define obscure terms, and expand the plot a bit.  Maybe it's all part 
of the ha-ha-now-you-have-to-flip-back-700-pages-type-humor that Wallace 
revels in.

In an aside, I kinda wished GR had footnotes; but then again, the darn 
thing is frustrating enough...

Rob