House of Leaves

For other uses, see House of Leaves (disambiguation).

House of Leaves

Author	Mark Z. Danielewski
Language	English
Genre	Novel, Horror
Publisher	Pantheon Books
Publication date	2000-03-07
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	709 p. (paperback edition)
ISBN	ISBN 0-375-70376-4 (paperback edition)
Followed by	The Whalestoe Letters

House of Leaves (2000) is the debut novel by writer Mark Z. Danielewski, published by Pantheon Books (ISBN 0-375-70376-4). The novel quickly became a bestseller following its March 7 2000 release, although it had already developed a cult following through gradual release over the Internet. It was followed by the companion piece, The Whalestoe Letters (ISBN 0-375-71441-3).

The format and structure of the novel is unconventional, with unusual page layout and style typical of ergodic literature. It contains copious footnotes, which often contain additional footnotes themselves; the direction of the text frequently flows in unusual directions; and some sections of the book have only a few lines of text or just a word or two on each page, arranged in strange ways, often to create (paradoxically) both an agoraphobic and a claustrophobic effect or to otherwise mirror the events in the story. The novel is also distinctive for its multiple narrators, who interact with each other throughout the story in disorienting and elaborate ways.

House of Leaves has been described as a "satire of academic criticism".

Plot Summary

House of Leaves begins with a first person narrative by Johnny Truant, a Los Angeles tattoo parlor employee. Truant is searching for a new apartment when his friend Lude tells him about the apartment of the recently deceased Zampanò, a blind, elderly man who lived in the same building as Lude.

In Zampanò's apartment, Truant discovers a manuscript written by Zampanò which turns out to be a very academic study of a documentary film called The Navidson Record.

The rest of the novel alternates between Zampanò's report on the fictional film, Johnny's autobiographical interjections, and occasional brief notes by unidentified editors, all woven together by a mass of footnotes. There is also a fourth narrator, Johnny's mother, whose voice is presented through a self-contained set of letters titled The Whalestoe Letters. Each narrator's text is printed in a distinct font, making it easier for the reader to follow the sometimes challenging format of the novel.

The Navidson Record

Zampanò's narrative deals primarily with the Navidson family: Will Navidson, a photojournalist (partly based on Kevin Carter), his partner Karen Green, an attractive former fashion model, and their two children, Chad and Daisy. Navidson's brother, Tom, and several other characters also play a role later in the story. The Navidson family has recently moved into a new home in Virginia.

Upon returning from a trip to Seattle, the Navidson family discovers a change in their home. A closet-like space shut behind an undecorated door appears inexplicably where previously there was only a blank wall. A second door appears next to it, leading to the children's room. As Navidson investigates this phenomenon, he finds that the internal measurements of the house are somehow larger than external measurements. Initially there is less than an inch of difference, but as time passes the interior of the house is found to be seemingly expanding, while maintaining the same exterior proportions. A third change asserts itself: a dark, cold hallway in their living room wall which, according to the laws of physics, should extend out into their yard, which it does not. Navidson films this strange place, looping around the house to show where the space should be and clearly is not. The fictional filming of this anomaly comes to be referred to as the 5½-minute hallway. This hallway leads to a maze-like complex, starting with a large room (the "Anteroom"), which in turn leads to a truly enormous space (the "Great Hall"), a room primarily distinguished by an enormous spiral staircase which appears, when viewed from the landing, to spiral down without end. There are also a multitude of corridors and rooms leading off from each passage. All of these rooms and hallways are completely unlit and featureless, consisting of smooth ash-grey walls, floors, and ceilings. The only sound disturbing the perfect silence of the hallways is a periodic low growl, the source of which is never fully explained, although an academic source quoted in the book hypothesizes that the growl is created by the frequent re-shaping of the house.

There is some discrepancy as to where the 5½-minute hallway appears. It is quoted by different characters at different times to have been located in each of the cardinal directions. This first happens when Zampanò writes that the hallway is in the western wall (House of Leaves 57), directly contradicting an earlier page where the hallway is mentioned to be in the northern wall (House of Leaves 4). Johnny's footnotes point out the contradiction.

Navidson, along with his brother Tom and some colleagues, are compelled to explore, photograph, and videotape the house's seemingly endless series of passages, eventually driving various characters to insanity, murder and death. Ultimately, Will releases what has been recorded and edited as The Navidson Record.

Will and Karen purchased the house because their relationship was becoming strained with Will's work-related absences. While Karen was always adamant against marriage (claiming that she valued her freedom above anything else), she always found herself missing and needing Will when he was gone: "And yet even though Karen keeps Chad from overfilling the mold or Daisy from cutting herself with the scissors, she still cannot resist looking out the window every couple of minutes. The sound of a passing truck causes her to glance away" (House of Leaves 11-12).

Zampanò's narrative is littered with all manner of references, some quite obscure, others indicating that the Navidsons' story achieved international notoriety. Luminaries such as Stephen King, Ken Burns, Camille Paglia, and Jacques Derrida were apparently interviewed as to their opinions about the film. However, when Truant investigates, he finds no history of the house, no evidence of the events experienced by the Navidsons, and nothing else to establish that the house or record ever existed anywhere other than in Zampanò's text.

Many of the references in Zampanò's footnotes, however, are real—existing both within his world and our world outside the novel. For example, several times Zampanò cites an actual Time-Life book, Planet Earth: Underground Worlds (House of Leaves 125).

Johnny's story

An adjacent story line develops in Johnny's footnotes, detailing what is progressing in Johnny's life as he is assembling the narrative. It remains unclear if Johnny's obsession with the writings of Zampanò and subsequent delusions, paranoia, etc. are the result of drug use, insanity, or the effects of Zampanò's writing itself. Johnny recounts tales of his various sexual encounters, his lust for a tattooed stripper he calls Thumper, and his bar-hopping with Lude throughout various footnotes. The reader also slowly learns more about Johnny's childhood living with an abusive foster father, engaging in violent fights at school, and of the origin of Johnny's mysterious scars (House of Leaves 505). More information about Johnny can be gleaned from the Whalestoe Letters, letters his mother Pelafina wrote from The Three Attic Whalestone Institution. Though Pelafina's letters and Johnny's footnotes contain similar accounts of their past, their memories also differ greatly at times, due to both Pelafina and Johnny's questionable mental state. Pelafina was placed in the mental institution after supposedly attempting to strangle Johnny, only to be stopped by her husband. She remained there after Johnny's father's death.

The Whalestoe Letters

Main article: The Whalestoe Letters

This story is included in an appendix near the end of the book, as well as in its own, self-contained book (with additional content included in the self-contained version). It consists of Johnny's mother's letters to him from a psychiatric hospital. The letters start off fairly normal but Pelafina quickly descends into paranoia and the letters become more and more incoherent. There are also several secret messages in the letters, which can be decoded by combining the first letter of consecutive words.

Characters

Johnny's story

Johnny Truant

Johnny Truant serves a dual role, as primary editor of The Navidson Record and protagonist as revealed through footnotes and appendices.

In the beginning of the book, Truant appears to be a normal, reasonably attractive young man who happens upon a trunk full of notes left behind by the now deceased Zampanó. As Truant begins to do the editing, however, he begins to lose the tenuous grip he has on reality, and his life begins to erode around him. He stops bathing, rarely eats, stops going to work, and distances himself from essentially everyone, all in pursuit of organizing the book into a finished work that, he hopes, will finally bring him peace.

Initially intrigued by Zampanò’s isolative tendencies and surreal sense of reality, Johnny unknowingly sets himself up as a victim to the daunting task that awaits him. As he begins to organize Zampanò’s manuscripts, his personal footnotes detail the deterioration of his own life with analogues references to alienation and insanity: once a trespasser to Zampanò's mad realm, Truant seems to become more comfortable in the environment as the story unfolds. He even has hallucinations that parallel those of Zampanò and members of the house search team when he senses "...something inhuman..." behind him (House of Leaves 26). Spiraling downward into a dark labyrinth of his own, Johnny is therefore aware that his life has become unmanageable: his association with Zampanò’s task seems to have consumed him in his vulnerable state.

Aside from simply functioning as an editor and protagonist in the novel, Johnny is an excellent example of an unreliable narrator. Early on, Danielewski clues the reader in on this through one of Johnny's footnotes in which Johnny responds to the problem of Navidson's broken "water heater." After a long liturgy about the need for warm water, Johnny says, "Is it just coincidence that this cold water predicament of mine also appears in this chapter? Not at all. Zampano only wrote "heater." The word "water" back there - I added that" (House of Leaves 16). This leaves the reader wondering if Johnny changes any other parts of the text and fails to tell us. Later, near the end of the novel, Johnny presents a made up story as truth and then later says, "I just made that all up. Right out of thin air" (House of Leaves 509).

Zampanò

Zampanò is a blind writer, and the author of The Navidson Record; He is in the line of numerous blind prophets and poets throughout history, going all the way back to Homer.

Pelafina H. Lièvre

Pelafina, more commonly referred simply as "P." is Johnny's institutionalized mother who appears in the appendix to the text. Her story is more fully developed in The Whalestoe Letters.

Lude

Lude is Johnny Truant's best friend and is also the one that informs him of Zampanò's vacant apartment. Lude is a minor character, but some of his characteristics and actions are important in understanding Johnny. Lude assists Johnny many times in obtaining phone numbers of girls when they visit bars, clubs, and restaurants. Several times, Johnny mentions that he wished he didn't answer Lude's call late at night. Every time Johnny and Lude are together they seem to involve themselves in difficult situations.

The Navidson Record

Will Navidson

Will is the central character in The Navidson Record subplot of the novel. A stint in the army early in his life leads him to a very successful career as a photographer, primarily in wartorn parts of the world; his role as an impartial documentarist of war affects him deeply. Later in his life, he moves to the eponymous house (located in the Virginia countryside), in an effort to stay in and explore the quieter side of life (chapter II). However the unnatural events that occur thereafter have a profound effect upon him and his marriage to his wife, Karen.

Karen Green

Karen is Will's wife (who never took his surname), and a former fashion model. She suffers from crippling claustrophobia, and throughout the novel refuses to enter the labyrinth beneath her house. She also seems to be extremely insecure regarding her relationship with Will; he is 'her rock'. Curiously, the events of the novel only seem to reduce her dependence on Will (as well as contributing to the eventual dissolution of her marriage). In the aftermath of the events in the house, she becomes an unlikely researcher, consulting many real characters on editorial matters regarding The Navidson Record (albeit within the fictional universe of the novel).

Tom Navidson

Tom is Will Navidson’s somewhat estranged fraternal twin brother; Tom is a carpenter with substance addiction problems, who is markedly less successful than Will in his personal and professional life. After approximately 8 years of little contact, Will contacts Tom when he notices that his house is larger on the inside than the outside. A section of the novel, called "Tom’s Story" is a partial transcript of documentary evidence and radio communication with the outside world during his vigil within the labyrinth, which he spends alone with his radio, waiting for Will. This section is referred to in the book as a "sometimes funny, sometimes bizarre history of thoughts passing away in the atrocity of that darkness" (House of Leaves 252). He often refers to "Mr. Monster" and many of the jokes and anecdotes he provides are religious in nature.

Format

There are many unusual, and often disorienting, elements of House of Leaves.

One interesting feature of some paperback editions of the book is that the cover of the book is slightly smaller than the pages themselves, causing the edges of the pages to peek out of the side of the black cover. This parallels the Navidson house, which also has an inside which is larger than its outside. The gap on the paperback cover is exactly 1/2 inch.

Typography

File:HouseOfLeavesPage134.gif

Page 134 from the book House of Leaves, an example of the typography used in the novel.

The text of the book is arranged on the pages in such a way that the method of reading the words sometimes mimics the feelings of the characters or the situations in the novel. While characters are navigating claustrophobic labyrinthine sections of the house's interior, the text is densely, confusingly packed into small corners of each page, while when a character is running desperately from an unseen enemy, there are only a few words on each page for almost 25 pages, causing the reader's pace to quicken as he flips page after page to learn what will happen next.

The unorthodox typography and arrangement of chapters or sections is similar to works by Milorad Pavić, allowing the reader to jump around from section to section at will while following footnotes or the multilayered narrative.

It has been noted that the font used for the narratives of different people is relevant. Johnny's font is Courier, Zampanò's font is Times, the Editors' font is Bookman, and Pelafina's font is Dante.

Codes

Many things are hidden within the text of the book. Going through the first letter of every footnote spells the author's name over time. Portions are written in alternating short and long paragraphs which turn out to be morse code that correspond to the text. Some codes, like the author's name, are simply fun to notice. Others actually have an impact that gives greater depth and meaning to the portion being read. One of Pelafina's letters includes a coded message apparently addressed to Zampanò, which reads: "My dear Zampanò, who did you lose?" (House of Leaves 615).

Colors

Throughout the entirety of House of Leaves (even including the cover and publishing information), the word house is colored blue (grey for non-color editions of the book and light grey for red editions), as in house, and is, in many places in the book, offset from the rest of the text in different directions at different times. Foreign-language equivalents of house, such as the German Haus and the French maison are also blue. Red and full-color editions of House of Leaves have the word Minotaur colored red.

The reason behind this color choice is unknown. Theories abound, ranging from the blue text being intended to evoke the idea of a hyperlink, to comparisons of Navidson's name with the color navy blue, to a reference to Islamic manuscripts in which the name of God is colored (The idea that the house is god appears once in the book), or even to the color blue being used to refer to a blue screen, a theory in line with the idea that Navidson's house, like a blue screen, is fundamentally empty and without sentience or purpose, and is only filled and altered by the human consciousnesses that interact with it.

On the inside cover, where the Library of Congress information is listed, there is a note about differences in editions. In the full-color edition of House of Leaves, a struck line appears in purple in Chapter XXI.

Purple is associated throughout the novel with Pelafina, as it is the color of her long nails, and also the color of the ink Johnny is putting into needles when he has his panic attack in the supply closet.

The inside of the cover mentions a full-color "first edition" version including braille. The following editions are known and confirmed to exist:

• Black-and-White Edition - No colored words. Plain black text. House in grey.
• Blue Edition - House in blue. Minotaur and struck passages in regular black text.
• Red Edition - House in light grey. Minotaur and struck passages in red.
• Full Color Edition - House in blue. Minotaur and struck passages in red. On the jacket, A Novel and the Pantheon logo in purple. In the book, First Edition and the struck line in Chapter XXI in purple. The word Braille in the editions listing is Xed out. Appendices are full color plates.[1]

The check mark

The check mark appears on the lower right hand corner of page 97. It is possibly a reference to Pelafina's letter requesting that Truant "Place in [his] next letter a check mark in the lower right hand corner. That way [she'll] know [he] received this letter" (House of Leaves 609).

Title

House of Leaves originally began as a short story, titled Redwood. "Redwood" is also referenced in relation to the cats who have started dying and disappearing: "Redwood. I saw him once a long time ago when I was young. I ran away and luckily, or no luck at all, he did not follow me. But now I cannot run and anyway this time I am certain he would follow" (House of Leaves 547). Zampanò's linking of the cats' disappearance with Redwood could be a connection to the disappearances that occurred in the house and the elusive being which seems to haunt the halls.

A great amount of interaction exists between the house and the book, beginning with the title of the book, House of Leaves, where leaves is a synonym for pages, thus making the "house" a book.

House of Leaves is also the same title that Zampanò originally uses for his manuscript. Additionally, at the end of the book, when Navidson is falling through nothing inside the labyrinth, he reads a book supposedly called House of Leaves, burning the pages for light as he goes along. Later, though, it can be seen that the tape cut out before the name of the book could be seen (House of Leaves 551).

Foreign languages

As a key part of House of Leaves' fixation with academic, intellectual writing and obscurity in general, there are countless quotations and phrases strewn throughout the book in numerous other languages, ranging from Latin to Spanish to Old English. Some of these are translated, but many are not. A few of these phrases include:

• "Muss es sein?", German for "Must it be?" or "Does it have to?" (House of Leaves 1).
• "C'est vraiment triste", French for "It's truly sad" (House of Leaves 590).
• "bambino dell'oro", Italian for "child of gold" (House of Leaves 592).
• "Micel biþ se Meotudes egsa, for þon hī sēo molde oncyrreð", from the Old English poem The Seafarer, meaning "Great is the fear of the Lord, before which the world stands still" (House of Leaves 595). Later, there is a quotation from the poem Battle of Maldon (House of Leaves 601).
• At different times, Truant says: "Known Some Call Is Air Am". Although it appears to be a random string of words, it is actually phonetically equivalent to "Non sum qualis eram", Latin for "I am not as I was".

Appendices

House of Leaves contains rather large appendices. As appendices are generally more common in works on non-fiction and text books, this section is part of the format that immediately sets the book apart from contemporary fiction. Some entries are integral to the story, such as Pelefina’s letters in Appendix II-E, while others provide background on the characters, such as Zampanò’s letter to the editor.

Several places in the text refer the reader to the appendices. For example, the Editors suggest that in order to better understand Johnny, the reader should turn to the letters from his mother (House of Leaves 72). Other entries appear to contain only disorganized fragments that could not be fit in elsewhere. These fragments, including poems, photocopies of scraps of paper, collages, notes, quotes, etc., may contain clues to some of the novel’s mysteries, such as the Ground-Air Emergency Code sheet in Collage #1 which may relate to some of the symbols used to denote footnotes. On the whole, however, these clues are seldom conclusive and often contradictory.

Index

An index is included at the end of the book, although it is not complete or even entirely accurate. Not all important words are indexed, incorrect page numbers are listed for some words, and some words have the notation "DNE". There are also such inconsequential words such as and, only, so, in, for, can, and all listed. There is no clear definition provided for "DNE", however it also appears elsewhere in the novel, while discussing true north and in a collage (House of Leaves 121 and 582). "DNE" is used as an abbreviation for "does not exist" in calculus for undefined limit values or non real function solutions.

Typographical and spelling errors

There are many spelling mistakes in House of Leaves, the most common being Truant's tendency to use "alot" in place of "a lot" and "would of" in place of "would have." Truant goes out of his way to ensure that readers will pay careful attention to any mistakes they see, as he says that he avoided correcting some of Zampanò's errors where they added to a deeper understanding of the man.

Some examples of typographical errors include:

• Zampanò switching personal pronouns while writing about Tom Navidson: "He might have spent all night drinking had exhaustion not caught up with me" (House of Leaves 320)
• "parenthetical" for "parentethical" (House of Leaves 401)
• "pisces" for "pieces" (House of Leaves 41, 552, 559), though there are numerous times when the word is spelled correctly (House of Leaves p. v., xiii., xvii., 6, 11, 17, 42, 69, 71, 84, 86, 87, 93, 111, 122, 147, 162, 248, 249, 296, 333, 337, 354, 367, 379, 385, 390, 405, 548)
• "mourning paper" for "morning paper" (footnote 36, House of Leaves 31)

References and influences

Mythological

Implicit and explicit references to the Minotaur of Greek mythology can be found throughout the novel. The house itself is a labyrinth which Navidson explores using fishing line to avoid getting lost, just as Theseus navigated the Palace of Crete using a spool of thread. Truant sees a minotaur-like beast in his dreams, deep gashes (from claws) were found near Zampanò, and a shadowy claw kills Holloway. Passages in which Danielewski discusses mythological elements are all either in red text or appear as struck passages (like this), depending on the version of the book.

The Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is also referenced in Truant's footnote 34 and in one of Pelafina's letters (House of Leaves 28 and 604). Pelafina resembles Eurydice, who wishes Truant (as Orpheus) would rescue her from the underworld.

There are numerous references to Yggdrasil, the great world-tree of Norse mythology. Yggdrasil is a giant ash tree which held beneath its roots the nine worlds of the universe and three magic wells, while the house of House of Leaves was located on Ash Tree Lane and appeared to be limitless. Sacrifices at Yggdrasil were common in mythology: Odin sacrificed his left eye, Tyr his hand, and Heimdall his hearing, mirroring similar sacrifices made by Navidson.

Yggdrasil is even explicitly mentioned on the final page of the novel:

What miracle is this? This giant tree.

It stands ten thousand feet high

But doesn’t reach the ground. Still it stands.

Its roots must hold the sky. (House of Leaves 709)

Film, literary, and philosophical

Jorge Luis Borges wrote about labyrinths and the nature of reality. His story The Garden of Forking Paths, which is mentioned in footnote 167, contains the line, "The book and the labyrinth were one and the same".

The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien is also similar to House of Leaves in theme and style.

The philosopher Jacques Derrida's works on deconstructionism (specifically Glas) bear some resemblance to the book typographically; indeed, Derrida is referenced explicitly in a footnote in one chapter. Danielewski has also provided commentary in a documentary on the philosopher

The Shining and 2001: A Space Odyssey by director Stanley Kubrick include strange and claustrophobic spaces. Both films are referenced in footnootes, and the monolith of 2001 is discussed as well.

Danielewski includes many ideas found in existentialism, poststructuralism, and postmodernism.

Other houses

The house at One Ash Tree Lane can be compared to other famous houses, "haunted" and otherwise, around the United States.

The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, is a sprawling mansion that includes hallways leading nowhere. It is said to be haunted. This is particularly notable because Danielewski lived only an hour north in Berkeley, California, while writing House of Leaves.

The House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin is another comparable house.

Companion works

The book was followed by a companion piece called The Whalestoe Letters, a series of letters written to the character Johnny Truant by his mother while she was confined in a mental institution.

House of Leaves was accompanied by a companion piece (or vice versa), a full length album called Haunted recorded by Danielewski's sister, Ann Danielewski, known as Poe. The two works cross-pollinated heavily over the course of their creations, each inspiring the other in various ways. Poe's statement on the connection between the two works is that they are parallax views of the same story. House of Leaves references Poe and her songs several times, not only limited to her album Haunted, but Hello as well. One example occurs when the character Karen Green is interviewing various academics on their interpretations of the short film "Exploration #4"; she consults a "Poet," but there is a space between the "Poe" and the "t," possibly suggesting that Poe at one point commented on the book. It may also be a reference to Edgar Allan Poe.

The album Haunted also draws heavily from the novel, featuring tracks called House of Leaves, Exploration B and "5&½ Minute Hallway," and many less obvious references. The video for "Hey Pretty" also features Mark Danielewski reading from House of Leaves (pages 88-89), and in House of Leaves, the band Liberty Bell's lyrics were also songs on Poe's album.

Miscellanea

• The band The Fall of Troy have a few songs lyrically referencing House of Leaves, including "You Got A Death Wish, Johnny Truant?", and "The Hol[ ]y Tape...". The Fall of Troy's labelmates, Circa Survive, have a hidden track on their full-length debut unofficially titled "House of Leaves (Blues)". Their singer, Anthony Green, is a fan of the book.
• "House of Leaves" is also the title of a song on the defunct UK band earthtone9's Omega EP.
• There's also a UK metalcore band Johnny Truant, which shares the name of the book's protagonist.
• The post-metal band ISIS are releasing a new album on Halloween entitled In The Absence Of Truth which singer/guitarist Aaron Turner has said is heavily influenced by House of Leaves.
• House of Leaves has been translated into a number of foreign languages, including German, French, Japanese, Dutch and Italian.
• House of Leaves is cited as one of the major influences of the notorious Shalebridge Cradle mission in Thief: Deadly Shadows by its primary designer.

References

• Danielewski, Mark Z. House of Leaves. Pantheon Books, 2000.

External links

• Official Website (currently redirecting to the Only Revolutions Website)
• Random House Readers Guide
• Powells Books review
• The Modern Word review
• The Modern Word interview