The Labyrinth as an Anti-Home in Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves

Magdalena Solarz

Abstract


This paper examines the spatial model of a house as a labyrinth in Mark Z. Danielewski’s experimental novel House of Leaves in relation to Yuri M. Lotman’s concept of an anti-home. The aim of the paper is to analyze the spatial organization of the house presented in the novel and its influence on the characters. It also examines the connection between the mental state of the inhabitants and the changing nature of the labyrinth by demonstrating how the subversive spatiotemporal organization of domestic space accounts for the transformation of the novel’s protagonists.

 


Keywords


Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves, home, anti-home, labyrinth

Full Text:

PDF

References


Aguirre, Manuel. 2008. “Geometries of Terror: Numinous Spaces in Gothic, Horror and Science Fiction.” Gothic Studies 10 (2): 1–17.

Bemong, Nele. 2003. “Exploration # 6: The Uncanny in Mark Z. Danielewski’s ‘House of Leaves.’” Image & Narrative. http://www.imageandnarrative.be/inarchive/uncanny/nelebemong.htm.

Boothroyd, David. 2015. “Metaleptic Transgression and Traumatic Experience: The ‘empty Rooms, Long Hallways, and Dead Ends’ of House of Leaves.” Lund: Lund University. http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/7445282.

Danielewski, Mark Z. 2000. House of Leaves. 2nd edition. New York: Pantheon.

Hamilton, Natalie. 2008. “The A-Mazing House: The Labyrinth as Theme and Form in Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves.” Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 50 (1): 3–16. doi:10.3200/CRIT.50.1.3-16.

Jones, Ryan. 2014. “Labyrinthine Literature: Reality versus Perception in Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves” Scribd. https://pl.scribd.com/document/304168593/Labyrinthine-Literature-Reality-versus-Perception-in-Mark-Z-Danielewski-s-House-of-LeavesLabyrinthine-Literature-Reality-versus-Perception-in-Mark.

Lotman, Yuri. 2001. Universe of the Mind: A Semiotic Theory of Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Majlingová, Veronika. 2011. “The Use of Space in Gothic Fiction.” Master’s Thesis, Brno: Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts. https://theses.cz/id/h0tty6?furl=%2Fid%2Fh0tty6;so=nx;lang=en.

Slocombe, Will. 2015. “‘This Is Not For You’: Nihilism and the House That Jacques Built.” MFS Modern Fiction Studies 51 (1): 88–109. doi:10.1353/mfs.2005.0015.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/nh.2017.2.89
Date of publication: 2017-08-17 12:08:49
Date of submission: 2017-08-17 11:40:28


Statistics


Total abstract view - 1699
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF - 0

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2017 Magdalena Solarz

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.