Footnotes

[NathanLovesDiscworld]

Does anyone else have a slightly mixed relationship with the footnotes that are customary in the Discworld books? By and large I find they serve an important purpose and reinforce jokes featured in the main text, but sometimes I get bogged down with the longer ones and very occasionally skip them.

 

[raisindot]

I've always maintained the Pterry included footnotes in the DW books to serve as his analogue to the Galactic Encyclopedia entries in Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide series. They both serve the save purpose--to provide "humorous" anecdotal information outside the main narrative.

Pterry's footnotes are hit or miss. Some are hilarious, some are just unfunny. Usually the shorter they are, the better. Many of the the longer ones are just plain clumsy. I think toward the end you saw fewer footnotes and they were mostly unfunny and served little purpose. Perhaps I Pterry thought his fans expected the footnotes and as a result many of them seemed forced.

 

[Tonyblack]

I'm rereading Unseen Academicals at the moment and the super long footnotes and footnotes in the footnotes, start almost straight away. I agree - the shorter the better. My favourite are the ones that, when you take the time to look them up, have a silly groan-worthy joke attached.

 

[=Tamar]

I seem to recall a statement somewhere that some of the footnotes were placed to change the timing of the action. That is, assuming you read the footnote when it was marked in the text, the sentences after that would have been slightly delayed, which would make a joke (or a serious moment) have a slightly different effect than it would have had if it had been read immediately.

 

[Mixa]

I agree with all your points of view, but I wouldn’t change their style even if I could. Footnotes are special because of their heterogeneity and I think we all love them precisely because of this mixed feelings they generate.

By the way! If you think you are becoming an expert on footnotes Nathan, don’t miss this topic… Will you be able to guess what Discworld book are they from?

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=86&start=300

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