The Footnote Technique

Footnotes, considered the hallmark of academic precision – and possibly pretension and perhaps even pedantry – are a frequent target of derision. Some argue that they’re outdated annoyances of a bygone era and should be abandoned. Plus they’re a pain to format, and reading them? Ugh, right? Noel Coward once noted, “Coming across a footnote is like going downstairs to answer the doorbell while making love.”

Well, we beg to differ. We think they’re actually quite a nice way to jump around in a text. They add layers of meaning. An extra voice. More info. “More than a trick, footnotes can be technique,” enthuses Jonathan Russell Clark. That’s right: a technique! And we love a good technique.

Our invitation this month:

Join the likes of Jenny Boully (see The Body: An Essay ), Roni Horn (see pictured above Another Water: The River Thames, for Example ), and David Foster Wallace (see Infinite Jest ) and, bolstered by their inventive use of the humble citation, add some notes to the foot of a text. Or an image3. Or a video, painting, knitted thing, or what have you.

As always, post early and often, borrow and revise, write or make, and put your footnoted items here.