infinite footnotes

[Jeffrey Stadelman]

Bonnie, 

That quote was just one that had been sitting in the back of my mind, and
in my notebook, for a long time--and my first experience with it was, it
seems, just like yours, a kind of despairing admiration.  The beauty and
exhilarating unexpectedness of its immediate images and language along
with the scope and depth of the thematic references evoked by it
(whew/ugh) bowled me right over. 

But I'm often particularly taken with passages that concretize the textual
feeling of day-to-day living.  (Was it Baudelaire who said 'Tout est
hieroglyphiqe'?)  It's perhaps the reason I like TS's trip down the sewer
so much, with his excreta-leaves-reading -- along with the fact that, as a
composer, I appreciate the send-up of the artist's anal manipulation of
material.  ...  But how did I get on that? 

What I really wanted to say was that any mention of footnotes at all on
the list probably would have triggered my sharing the passage.  I
actually love footnotes (though no fetish?).  And I liked what you said
about IJ (though I've only dipped a big toe in to date).  I consistently
have trouble communicating the tone of my thoughts in this medium.  Not a
rejoinder, just 'and here's TP on the topic in one context' (which in this
case admittedly, aparently was anti-fn). No ouch intended. 

On Fri, 21 Jun 1996, Bonnie Surfus (ENG) wrote:

> On Thu, 20 Jun 1996, Jeffrey Stadelman wrote:
> 
> > 
> > Robert Bruno wrote:
> > 
> > > > In an aside, I kinda wished GR had footnotes; but then again, the darn 
> > > > thing is frustrating enough...*
> > 
> > Bonnie Surfus (ENG) wrote:
> > 
> > > I find that the footnotes in IJ are a tremendous help, and that they
> > > reflect the functions of memory that promote a story.*  
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > *  "He gets back to the Casino just as big globular raindrops, thick as
> > honey, begin to splat into giant asterisks on the pavement, inviting him
> > to look down at the bottom of the text of the day, where footnotes will
> > explain all.  He isn't about to look.  Nobody ever said a day has to be
> > juggled into any kind of sense at day's end.  He just runs."  GR, Bantam
> > p. 238
> > 
> > 
> > 
> one of my favorite passages.  And yes, nobody said anything "HAS to be
> juggled into any kind of sense" . . . but sometimes it's nice to see
> different ways in which time converges around an idea (a thought, a
> memory) for a reader, through the writer's eyes/mind.  Then again, in IJ,
> the footnotes add rich detail that does not always "explain" as much as
> it enhances meanings.
> 
> Either way, regarding your post:  ouch.
> 
> 
>