Usage and Purpose of Footnotes in Adam Reta’s Prose Fictions: “Etemete Lomishita” and Afe

Abstract

This study examines the usage and purpose of footnotes in two Amharic fictional works by Adam Reta, entitled “Etemete Lomishita” and  Afe., a novella and a novel, respectively. The texts have been selected based on purposive sampling. They were thoroughly read and  analyzed using various conceptual frameworks: Genette’s ‘paratext’ (2001), Maloney’s ‘fictional footnotes’ (2005), Modir and others’  ‘hypertext’ (2014), and Allan’s ‘intertextuality’ (2000). The findings show that Adam deviated from conventional narratology practices in  using fictional footnotes. The conventional thinking is that the editor is outside the fictional world; however, in Adam’s fiction, the editor  employs various techniques, such as footnotes, to communicate with the readers. The character-narrator is also involved in writing  footnotes. These have resulted in twisting the storyline and making the reading non-linear. The fictional footnotes draw the attention of  the reader to focus on minor issues. The use of the footnotes has created an unusual reading order of fiction. In general, it has been  found that the footnotes were used not as descriptions external to the story but rather as basic parts of the story having thematic,  structural, and aesthetic contributions. Differences have been observed in the employment of fictional footnotes in the two texts. In “Etemete Lomishita” there are clear indications that the editor has written some of the footnotes, whereas in Afe, the application of the  fictional footnotes is complex. It could be concluded that in both novels, Adam has integrated traditional and postmodern fictional  narrative techniques and created a ‘traditional-new style’ in writing the stories.