In a few pages you will find a story written in a style you may be familiar with. There are facts and generalisations therefrom, there are arguments - and there are lots of footnotes. In other words, you will find a (perhaps not very outstanding) example of a scholarly essay. Let me therefore warn you that it is not my intention to inform, or to establish some truth. What I want to do is to change your attitude. I want you to sense chaos where at first you noticed an orderly arrangement of well-behaved things and processes. It is clear that only a trick can get me from my starting point - the footnote-heavy essay I just mentioned - to where I would like you, the reader, to arrive.

LRB 22 June 2000 | PDF Download