Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Short Summary
Mark Z. Danielewski may have written a few highly-acclaimed novels (with more to come, hopefully), but it seems none have managed to capture the public’s imagination like his debut, House of Leaves. In short, it follows a family who, shortly after moving into a new house, see a doorway appear in their living room, leading to an impossible labyrinth… which of course, some are only too keen to explore.
Table of contents
Mark Z. Danielewski Bursts on the Scene of Metafiction
Though literature has been used by most authors in a traditional manner, that is to say, writing one structured sentence and paragraph after another without pretending they’re telling us the truth, other writers, such as Mark Z. Danielewski, have swayed from the beaten path. In his debut novel published in 2000, titled House of Leaves, Danielewski makes a stupefying use of his canvas, creating a work of metafiction.
The book is written as a work of epistolary fiction and presented through the writings of Johnny Truant, for all intents and purposes, our first primary narrator. Through a series of events, he details his discovery of a manuscript left behind by an old blind man, Zampano, one dedicated to studying a seemingly impossible documentary which doesn’t even seem to exist: the Navidson Record.
From this point on, we essentially have two narrators, and both are presenting their findings as completely factual, complete with footnotes, references, and everything you’d expect to find from a nonfiction book. While Truant narrates his efforts to finish Zampano’s manuscript and prepare it for posthumous publication, the latter becomes our primary guide on an excursion into the horrifying realm of impossibility.
Zampano’s narration is dedicated to an intricate analysis of the Navidson Record, and this, at least in my eyes, takes over as the main story in the book. It introduces us to the Navidsons, composed of husband and wife Will and Karen, as well as their children, Chad and Daisy. Thanks to all the cameras set up by Will to chronicle his family’s process of settling into a new house, he also managed to capture their collision with the completely irrational.
One day, a door suddenly appears in the Navidsons’ living room, leading to a seemingly never-ending and ever-shifting labyrinth of pure cold and darkness. It’s not going anywhere, and against his wife’s wishes, Will begins exploring the maze. He makes his way deeper and deeper, yearning to understand the immense complexity of the place, to conquer its indomitable nature… all while blinding himself to the stark realities staring him in the face, and perhaps losing sight of what’s truly important in life.
Presenting Fiction as Fact in House of Leaves
I think from the moment I opened House of Leaves, I quickly realized that I had never read anything like it, especially after having flipped through the pages a bit, drawn by the strange and beautiful formatting, but I’ll talk a little more about that later. The presentation of this book as a fake documentary is without a doubt one of the primary elements setting it apart from all its peers, adding many fascinating dimensions to a work already brimming with originality.
To begin with, our main author, Truant, more often than not questions the truthfulness and the validity of what Zampano has written, basing himself on the facts that the old man definitely invented a few things, and that the Navidson Record is nowhere to be found. This gives the whole story the feeling of something like an urban legend, the discovery of something unseen and barely-known to the world.
The fact that Mark Z. Danielewski chooses this approach also means the narration itself takes on a very different character than what you would get with a traditional novel. Zampano is essentially describing what he was able to see on the lost film (if it ever existed), taking a fairly dry and factual approach to the whole thing, which in my opinion contributes heavily to the maintenance of a good pace where we focus on important events, while also helping to sell the idea that we’re reading a work of non-fiction.
Because the Navidson Record is largely limited to the cameras Will set up in the house as well as the footage taken during a few expeditions into the labyrinth, there isn’t a whole lot of room for Zampano to beat around the bush, though he does so with a few speculations here and there. The constant notes from Johnny Truant relating to the manuscript and his attempts at making it into something cohesive and ready for publication also do their part in making it feel like something that truly exists.
Naturally, we can’t discuss the presentation of House of Leaves without talking about what Danielewski himself refers to as “Signiconic” (from sign and icon) writing. There are pages with only a few words on them (some even one), spaced and arranged strategically, others are even printed diagonally or upside-down, always matching the disorienting nature of the action and reflecting the inner state of the characters’ minds in such an original way I can only wonder why this book did not win more prizes.
Conquering the Labyrinth
As I’ve said it before, there are two narratives in House of Leaves, one by Truant and one by Zampano, but I’d be lying if I said that I found them both equally-interesting. As a matter of fact, I’d go as far as saying that the latter’s analysis of the Navidson Record was by far more interesting, and Truant’s notes, which often veer off the rails into biographical rants, serve more as a foundation to make the story itself feel like a real account.
First off, I’d just like to say that I love how Mark Z. Danielewski tackles the concept of the supernatural, always juxtaposing it with the laws of physics, drawing dread from the ways in which they are broken. For instance, the first anomaly to befall the family revolves around a quarter of an inch: when measured from the inside, no matter the instruments or technique used, the house was always one-inch longer than if measured from the outside.
Naturally, when the labyrinth appears, it more or less starts to take over the book as the main object of interest and obsession, both for us, the readers, as well as the characters. Naturally, we have the distinct advantage of detachment and having others do the exploration for us, but nobody can resist knowing what’s inside, how it works, what there might be to find in there… in short, everyone wants to know all about it.
The excursions undertaken into the cold darkness of the maze are, in my opinion, some of the best moments the book has to offer, successfully creating a sense of immense dread and discomfort in the face of something grandiose and utterly incomprehensible. While the characters try to make sense of it, they only make limited progress.
I do like that the author doesn’t really try to explain the labyrinth, but rather, he just presents it as something that exists, breaks the laws of physics, of what we think is possible, and cannot be reasoned with. The knowledge alone of something like that existing in the real world would likely be enough to drive many to insanity. In some sense, I think it’s a bit how the apes saw the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Of course, this is all ultimately connected to the Navidson family, and the complex shifts in their relationships with each other. More often than not, the house and the labyrinth reflect the states of those living within, adjusting accordingly, and depicting a tale of husband and wife drifting further and further apart, each beholden to their own objects of obsession. In the end, it’s as much a study of human relationships, as it is a tale of supernatural horror formatted as a documentary.
| PAGES | PUBLISHER | PUB. DATE | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 736 | Pantheon | March 7 2000 | 978-0375703768 |
The Final Verdict
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski was rightfully seen by many when it came out as a groundbreaking work mixing supernatural horror and family drama, presenting in a stylish and original way few, if any, have done before him. It is a highly-layered book one can keep coming back to over and over again, drawing new bits of meaning every single time.
If you’ve ever been on the fence about reading this book, or are in search of a truly original work of horror fiction that very much walks to the beat of its own drum, then I strongly urge you to give this book the chance it deserves; it will definitely stay with you for a long time afterwards.
