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The first thing I noticed about House of Leaves is the non traditional style of the novel. I have read many novels, but most of them do not have nearly as many footnotes as this book does. Are the footnotes included simply to remind the reader that they are supposed to be looking at a piece of literary critique, or are they included to create some confusion for the readers. The many footnotes (including the ones written by Johnny Truant) create a very segmented novel. This is interesting because it is almost recreating the experience Truant had when he first stumbled upon the paper by Zampano. He had to piece the story together much like the readers of House of Leaves have to do. One question I have is about the story Johnny tells on page 12. Why is this included in the novel? Is it just so that readers can get a feel for the type of person Johnny is?
ReplyDeleteHouse of Leaves presents us with two stories: one in the main text, and a second through the footnotes below it. I think it’s important to remember that through the combination of these stories a third is revealed. Zampano is dead, but the Navidson Record really represents his life. The sources and quotes contained within the story seem to be made up entirely by this man, and even in the footnotes more of his life is revealed: the women who write down his thoughts and read to him, details of his abandoned apartment. His story slowly reveals itself through the pages of the other two.
ReplyDeleteWe can also note parallels between the two explicit stories. Navidson in his mysterious house and Johnny discovering the Navidson record both descend into a state of disillusion and madness. Navidson losing himself in the living halls of his house and Johnny’s collapse on the floor of the tattoo parlor are placed together, happening simultaneously for the reader. Both characters see and hear what shouldn’t be there. They go too deeply into something far beyond them—Navidson into the depth of his house, Johnny into the details of Navidson’s story and Zampano’s writing. By placing these stories within one another, Danielewski creates connections between these parallel stories that could otherwise be overlooked.
House of Leaves, by Danielewski is the most interesting book we have read so far. I like the way this book is written, although it can be confusing at times, I think the story is very interesting. I like the fact that there are not any pictures besides what Danielewski paints with his vivid descriptions of what is taking place. A part in the book that I do not understand is the long list of names from page 64 to page 67. What importance do they serve to the overall story? We are told in the book the list was completely picked at random, but why is it included? I only briefly skimmed through the names and found one that repeated on two occasions, “Russell Hoover”. There may be many more that repeated throughout the pages but this was the only one that I found.
ReplyDeleteThe entire time I was reading House of Leaves, I kept wondering what was real and what was imaginary. The house reminded me of one of those haunted house movies set up with “real life” cameras (Paranormal Activity?). Or one of those fun houses that change form, as with the “five and a half minute hallway” described in chapter five.
ReplyDeleteI’m wondering what Johnny Truant’s relation is to The Navidson Record, other than the fact that he found Zampano’s chest filled with notes about the house. Will Johnny ever visit the house himself? Is Johnny actually experiencing this darkness or is it something completely psychological? I’m even wondering if the house was a real thing. What if it was all just a made up story that Zampano created? I find it interesting that Johnny’s story is told through the footnotes of the Navidson family’s story. It makes it extremely confusing to follow, but I find that it acts as a guide for the reader, interweaving two story plots that drive one another. I also find Zampano’s “children” or “faces” an interestingly eerie detail. It makes me believe there is an underlying demonic meaning to the story. Maybe the house is haunted and that’s the reason why the adults are paranoid even the animals and children recognize the “eerie blackness” that comes from the hallways and chambers.
One of the most apparent recurrences throughout House of Leaves is the change of font color from black to a dark blue for the word "house." Every time the word house is used in the book it is shown in this blue color. Even in the short German segment, "Haus" the German translation is colored. However, the word home (a similar word) is not highlighted. While most of the Navidson story revolves around the changing house, it makes some sense to highlight the word to show importance. And the contrast between emphasizing it and not emphasizing words such as home seem clear as the family is not comfortable in their living situation, it is more of a physical entity (house) rather than a familial locale (home). However, my main question is the use of the dark blue color. If Danielewski truly wanted to make the word stand out he would use a more vibrant or intense color. The use of a color that is just barely different from the text highlights the subtly of the emphasis, and at some moments it is even difficult to notice. I think he does this purposely to connect with the rest of the story and the blur between what is real and what is not.
ReplyDeleteThough pictures do not play a role in House of Leaves, Danielewski's language crafts extremely detailed images within readers' minds. Even in just the Introduction, his descriptions paint a vivid picture. When introducing Zampano's manuscript, he utilizes adjectives that personify the transcript. This affords the work a snarling, aggressive persona, even though it is only a collection of paper. One aspect of this amazing descriptiveness appears to be his attention to detail. Where some authors seem to only provide their readers with pertinent information to the plot, Danielewski goes into great detail regarding the most minute objects. It is this quality that allows him to draw readers into his setting and causes the novel to be completely engrossing.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, there are quite a few interesting things floating around in House of Leaves. The most obvious of these things is the evident darkness surround the lives of Karen, Navidson, and Truant. Karen and Navidson's children seem to be unfazed by this, as they go on their lives as children and explore and play like kids will do. It is also interesting that Karen is the only one who truly wants to move out of the house. Now that I think about it, all of the characters have a different relationship with darkness: the children are unfazed, Karen is afraid of it, Navidson is beyond curious, and Truant seems to be ruled by it. It will be interesting to see as the book progresses how each of these characters will continue to interact with the darkness and how it will ultimately change them. I find that Truant's footnotes are also a good insertion to the text as they break apart the mundane and super descriptive analyses of Zampanò as well as give the reader an idea of what the text truly does to its victims.
ReplyDeleteSo, this is actually my second time reading House of Leaves, but the first time I didn't actively analyze it really at all. House of Leaves doesn't have many pictures in the main stories (though there are a few in the appendixes), but it is still a very visual book. There is the differentiation between Zampano's analysis of the film The Navidson Record, the footnotes and personal story added by Johnny Truant and even the extra notes by 'The Editors'. As one note by The Editors points out, Zampano's notes are in Times font and Truant's are in Courier. There is also importance to the layout of the pages, the margins, the placement of the words, and even the orientation that the words take on (but I'm getting a little ahead). Then there is a notable use of color. Some of the words in the book appear in color rather than black. Notably, we see the word 'house' always shows up in blue. The house, is very, very important. One more layered use of images lies in the fact that Zampano's book is about a film. Even if we don't see the images of the film itself, they are described in great detail and important aspects of these images are instead given to us in the form of words.
ReplyDeleteHouse of Leaves raises more questions than it answers. Truant admits to being an inaccurate narrator. Thus, at all times there is the consideration that the entire account is false, exaggerated, or the complete ramblings of some lunatic. The overall organization of the book, the use of different fonts and colors, and the formatting and footnotes all hint at some deeper issue of falsity or perhaps insanity. It's certainly an interesting consideration of our previous discussions on mental illness as it relates to Jimmy Corrigan.
ReplyDeleteSwitching up the graphic novel tone I got accustomed to, House of Leaves does not abandoned an unconventional and very visual driven style of writing. The book opens with the eerie message, “This is not for you” which conveys a warning which quickly becomes apparent that House of Leaves is not a typical novel which needs to be, or even should be read in the typical front to back manner. Rather than a linear approach, it should be treated as a first edition of sorts with appendices, a type of memoir with additional documents, often in the form of footnotes, and footnotes within footnotes. So far, understanding has been tough as it demands a lot of time. I did not know at first if I should just read and examine it straight through, but I often found myself skipping around to better understand the atmosphere of the book, which produces a disjointed, disorganized feel which may be integral to its structure.
ReplyDeleteHouses of Leaves is a really interesting book. Danielewski provides us a visual of the whole story. From different person's versions that house became a book. I have to say it is not a normal novel, it seems like a combination of Horror fiction, movie analysis, memoirs，and collage. There are multiple narrative perspective in the book. One of the perspective describes the movie of this house, another perspective discusses the movie analysis. The book shows a multiple clues for us to read, and all the skills the writer used are pretty impressive and amazing. But only one thing i really want to say is that does the book like House of Leaves belong to literature anymore?
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