Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
There's no need for notes with any book, but my point is that, without footnotes, you'd have just read the above text, and not had the faintest idea that there was anything behind it other than its apparent description of a family - you'd have missed the entire point of what Trollope was saying, which, of course, his contemporary readers would have grasped immediately. A good set of footnotes will let you get a lot more out of a book than reading it "unaided" will.
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I think "get(ting) a lot more out of a book" depends on your purpose. I read classics for enjoyment, variation from nonfiction reading. I prefer to do my "studying" in nonfiction. More power to you, however you enjoy your classics.