William Rehm IV is a student interested in ethnomusicology, music theory, and creative writing. An avid reader and logophile, William Rehm IV enjoys finding and reading experimental books.
Individuals interested in experimental fiction should consider House of Leaves, the debut novel by Mark Z. Danielewski. Published in 2000, the post-modern book utilizes a wide variety of linguistic and graphical tricks. Beginning at the most surface level, House of Leaves is a novel about a haunted house. However, the story is told through a frame narrative led by a highly unreliable narrator, bringing the entire concept of the house and its story into question. Furthermore, the text describing the events in the house does not constitute a traditional narrative, but rather a description of events filmed in the house.
The book’s experiments go much further. House of Leaves features extensive footnotes, some of which have their own footnotes spinning off into their own narratives or pop culture commentaries. Other pages are all but empty, with a few words graphically designed to mimic the action they are describing. Some of these ergodic tactics are intentionally disorienting, such as pages that can only be read while holding the book upside down in front of a mirror.
Even the book's horror elements eschew genre conventions. Rather than featuring various ghosts and ghouls, the titular house is defined by hallways with dimensions that measure differently from the interior and exterior, or rooms that can only be accessed by specific doors. These descriptions only scratch the surface of the twisting tale that is Danielewski’s House of Leaves. The 709-page tome is available at most bookstores.
Individuals interested in experimental fiction should consider House of Leaves, the debut novel by Mark Z. Danielewski. Published in 2000, the post-modern book utilizes a wide variety of linguistic and graphical tricks. Beginning at the most surface level, House of Leaves is a novel about a haunted house. However, the story is told through a frame narrative led by a highly unreliable narrator, bringing the entire concept of the house and its story into question. Furthermore, the text describing the events in the house does not constitute a traditional narrative, but rather a description of events filmed in the house.
The book’s experiments go much further. House of Leaves features extensive footnotes, some of which have their own footnotes spinning off into their own narratives or pop culture commentaries. Other pages are all but empty, with a few words graphically designed to mimic the action they are describing. Some of these ergodic tactics are intentionally disorienting, such as pages that can only be read while holding the book upside down in front of a mirror.
Even the book's horror elements eschew genre conventions. Rather than featuring various ghosts and ghouls, the titular house is defined by hallways with dimensions that measure differently from the interior and exterior, or rooms that can only be accessed by specific doors. These descriptions only scratch the surface of the twisting tale that is Danielewski’s House of Leaves. The 709-page tome is available at most bookstores.
