- Paperback: 162 pages
- Publisher: Touchstone; Touchstone ed edition (17 Mar 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0743241754
- ISBN-13: 978-0743241755
- Product Dimensions: 21.7 x 14 x 1.1 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 435,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
Michael Pakenham "The Baltimore Sun" [A] charming, witty history and exploration of the formal written aside.
Product Description
Footnotes have not had it easy. Their dominance of eighteenth- and nineteenth- century literature and scholarship was both hard-won -- following many years of struggle -- and doomed, as it led to belittlement in the twentieth century. In The Devil's Details, Chuck Zerby playfully explores footnotes' long and illustrious history and makes a clarion call to save them from the new world of the Internet and hypertext. In a story that boasts a marvelous plot and a rogues' gallery of players, Zerby examines traditional footnotes and their less-buttoned-down incarnations, as when used by pornographers. Yes, The Devil's Details is full of surprises: Zerby hunts down the first bona fide fully functioning footnote; unearths a multivolume history of Northumberland County, England, that uses one volume for a single footnote; and uncovers a murder plot. He even explains why footnotes are like blind dates. Carefully researched and highly opinionated, The Devil's Details affirms that delight in reading can come from unexpected places.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
THE NEED FOR AN ADEQUATE* book on footnotes is obvious. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
THE NEED FOR AN ADEQUATE* book on footnotes is obvious. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Customer Reviews
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4 reviews
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful
My footnote to the 1-star review
25 Feb 2003
Format:Paperback
Don't listen to the reviewer who purports to give Zerby 0 stars, that review isn't worth your while. Try this, instead: I'm trying to delve into the study of footnotes (non-scholarly). Grafton's work relies too heavily on scholarly use. Kevin Jackson's Invisible Forms only lends the footnote a chapter. So Zerby, as of now, is the happy medium. And yes, he rambles. Yes, the book weaves in and out of direction. But that's the point, and assuming you'd encounter otherwise is somewhat deluded. If you accept Zerby's offering for what it is, and roll with the punches the book provides, you might learn a thing or two about how the footnote has evolved (AND discover a few interesting original sources to peruse later)!
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Superbly presented study on an important aspect of writing.
28 Mar 2002
Format:Hardcover
The Devil's Details: A History Of Footnotes is a carefully researched and superbly presented study of the footnote -- an editorial convention most often seen in academic texts yet fast becoming more widespread than ever, particularly in the world of the Internet where a "footnote" can in fact be a hyperlinked note. Fascinating and informative with its close attention to minute matters, The Devil's Details is an enjoyable and even slightly whimsical study of an oft-overlooked aspect of writing and recommended reading for anyone wanting to improve the professionalism of their writings in print or on the Internet.
8 of 11 people found the following review helpful
A delightful read!
1 Mar 2002
Format:Hardcover
What a joy this book is. Funny, insightful, daring. Who is Chuck Zerby? Where in the world did he come from, and how did he learn so much? He does what no traditional scholar has been able to do--capture what is so rich and, yes, silly about getting caught up in minutiae about books, and reminding us bibliophiles why we love to read so much. Get this gorgeous little book for everyone you know who still appreciates the beauty of the word on the page.
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