Art Influences on Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves and Los Angeles's Influence on Johnny Truant

Rebecca Gates

Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Masters Research Paper

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

School of Art and Art History, College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences

First Advisor

M. E. Warlick

Keywords

Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves, Criticism and interpretation, Modernism in literature, Paranormal fiction, Horror tales, Perception in literature

Abstract

"...is a novel that combines literature and art to create a unique postmodern object. It was published just over a decade ago, and in that time numerous scholars and students have written papers and articles on it. Within these articles, the themes are usually about deconstruction, the house as a digital object, the house's lack of homeliness, or characters who claim authorial presence. Danielewski distance himself from that role. The house and its impossible labyrinth are the central feature of the book. A house should provide stability, but this house shifts its rooms and walls at random. A house should protect its occupants, but this one kills people. This house links itself into an infinite amount of information through its use of the internet as an influence and a stylistic device, but it has nothing but an absence in its very foundation, an empty labyrinth with an unseen monster."

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. Permanently suppressed.

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