random item

Troperville

Tools

Find recent edits by troper:

back to: Literature / HouseOfLeaves

edit article | go to discussion page

15th May '13 4:25:05 PM CaptainCrawdad

Send CaptainCrawdad a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Repair Dont Respond

Changed line(s) 118,119 (click to see context) from:

to:

15th May '13 4:12:57 PM CaptainCrawdad

Send CaptainCrawdad a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 204,206 (click to see context) from:

to:

15th May '13 4:09:39 PM CaptainCrawdad

Send CaptainCrawdad a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Documentaries featuring death aren't necessarily snuff films

Deleted line(s) 165 (click to see context) :

15th May '13 4:07:38 PM CaptainCrawdad

Send CaptainCrawdad a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Literary Agent Hypothesis

Deleted line(s) 86 (click to see context) :

1st May '13 4:21:45 PM mlsmithca

Send mlsmithca a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Removing defunct textcolor markup.

Changed line(s) 3 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 8,13 (click to see context) from:

''[[color:blue:House]] of Leaves'' is a 2000 novel by Mark Z. Danielewski. [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs What about its plot]]?

Okay, imagine that this family is moving into a new [[color:blue:house]] to jump-start their lives together. [[DysfunctionJunction Will Navidson's a world-renowned photojournalist with lingering family issues, Karen Green is a former model with self-esteem issues]], and Chad and Daisy are their [[CreepyChild two lovable children]]. Will decides to make this move-in a documentary of how he got his life back on track, and he mounts video cameras and microphones in different rooms of the [[color:blue:house]]. About a month after they move in, the family goes to visit Karen's parents. When they return, there's a new addition to the [[color:blue:house]], a closet with a connecting doorway, between the master bedroom and Chad and Daisy's room. Furthermore, out of curiosity, Will measures the inside of the [[color:blue:house]] compared with the outside to find out something startling: [[BiggerOnTheInside the inside is bigger than the outside]] [[MindScrew by one quarter of an inch]]...

Hold on, that's not what this book is about at all. ''The Navidson Record'' is a recently-released documentary-style horror film with the plot described above, somewhat in the style of ''TheBlairWitchProject'', which opens to wide acclaim. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic It spurs countless theses and criticisms from academia]], both for its moving themes and character studies but also for the perplexing riddle of the [[color:blue:house]] and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic what it truly represents]]. Is it a throw-back to [[AncientTradition ancient customs]]? Perhaps the [[color:blue:house]] is a Derrida-esque [[HaveYouSeenMyGod deconstruction of religion]]? Does the [[color:blue:house]], in fact, represent [[FreudWasRight a vagina]]? A [[{{Fauxreigner}} Portuguese(?)]] man named Zampanò assembles these criticisms and writes what is considered a top-notch commentary on the film and how it explores deep symbolic themes of family, tragedy, echoes, and the perceptual confusion and terror of labyrinths...

to:

''House of Leaves'' is a 2000 novel by Mark Z. Danielewski. [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs What about its plot]]?

Okay, imagine that this family is moving into a new house to jump-start their lives together. [[DysfunctionJunction Will Navidson's a world-renowned photojournalist with lingering family issues, Karen Green is a former model with self-esteem issues]], and Chad and Daisy are their [[CreepyChild two lovable children]]. Will decides to make this move-in a documentary of how he got his life back on track, and he mounts video cameras and microphones in different rooms of the house. About a month after they move in, the family goes to visit Karen's parents. When they return, there's a new addition to the house, a closet with a connecting doorway, between the master bedroom and Chad and Daisy's room. Furthermore, out of curiosity, Will measures the inside of the house compared with the outside to find out something startling: [[BiggerOnTheInside the inside is bigger than the outside]] [[MindScrew by one quarter of an inch]]...

Hold on, that's not what this book is about at all. ''The Navidson Record'' is a recently-released documentary-style horror film with the plot described above, somewhat in the style of ''TheBlairWitchProject'', which opens to wide acclaim. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic It spurs countless theses and criticisms from academia]], both for its moving themes and character studies but also for the perplexing riddle of the house and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic what it truly represents]]. Is it a throw-back to [[AncientTradition ancient customs]]? Perhaps the house is a Derrida-esque [[HaveYouSeenMyGod deconstruction of religion]]? Does the house, in fact, represent [[FreudWasRight a vagina]]? A [[{{Fauxreigner}} Portuguese(?)]] man named Zampanò assembles these criticisms and writes what is considered a top-notch commentary on the film and how it explores deep symbolic themes of family, tragedy, echoes, and the perceptual confusion and terror of labyrinths...

Changed line(s) 18,19 (click to see context) from:

Wait, no, that's still not right. Okay, you're interested in what ''[[color:blue:House]] of Leaves'' is about, right? Well, this book is about that point directly behind your head. [[http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u215/sat7386/1212704298196.jpg Don't look.]][-&#937;-] Don't take your eyes off this page, off the safe glow of the monitor, the comforting shapes of the letters making up this sentence. This is safe. What's behind you ''isn't''. Keep reading these words. If you stop to look behind you, I can't guarantee you'll come out of this ordeal alive, much less sane. Pretty soon you might find yourself [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness doubting what is real and what isn't]]. Pretty soon you might start to have the nightmares. One day you'll wake up to find yourself an emaciated wreck who can't trust space and time anymore. Whether something is real or not doesn't matter here; [[FateWorseThanDeath the consequences are the same]]. What you need to realize is that ''this is not for you'. [[note]] If you're still confused, just note that [[SelfDemonstratingArticle the erratic style]] of this article is meant to inform you that this book is [[MindScrew confusing as hell,]] but in [[TropesAreNotBad a good way]]. Perhaps you can try the more straightfoward article [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Leaves on That Other Wiki.]][[/note]]

to:

Wait, no, that's still not right. Okay, you're interested in what ''House of Leaves'' is about, right? Well, this book is about that point directly behind your head. [[http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u215/sat7386/1212704298196.jpg Don't look.]][-&#937;-] Don't take your eyes off this page, off the safe glow of the monitor, the comforting shapes of the letters making up this sentence. This is safe. What's behind you ''isn't''. Keep reading these words. If you stop to look behind you, I can't guarantee you'll come out of this ordeal alive, much less sane. Pretty soon you might find yourself [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness doubting what is real and what isn't]]. Pretty soon you might start to have the nightmares. One day you'll wake up to find yourself an emaciated wreck who can't trust space and time anymore. Whether something is real or not doesn't matter here; [[FateWorseThanDeath the consequences are the same]]. What you need to realize is that ''this is not for you'. [[note]] If you're still confused, just note that [[SelfDemonstratingArticle the erratic style]] of this article is meant to inform you that this book is [[MindScrew confusing as hell,]] but in [[TropesAreNotBad a good way]]. Perhaps you can try the more straightfoward article [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Leaves on That Other Wiki.]][[/note]]

Changed line(s) 30 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 37 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 41 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 45,47 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 50 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 61 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 64 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 67 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 69 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 89 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 91 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 95 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 97 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 104 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 115 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 118 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 124 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 129 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 134,136 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 139,142 (click to see context) from:

*** In the typographically screwiest section of the book, two sections of [[color:red:red text]] are shaped like a key (introducing the Greek mythos of the [[color:red:Minotaur]]) and a lock (speaking about finding truth in documentaries.) Either this is the point of the novel or an elaborate red herring.
* PhysicalGod: Sort of: at one point Navidson expresses the view that the [[color:blue:house]] ''is'' God. Whether it fits this trope depends on whether you think the [[color:blue:house]] is sentient or not, or whether you think it matters.
* PostModernism: [[spoiler:Maybe the book, is, in fact, the labyrinth. There certainly isn't a labyrinth anymore after Navidson burns a copy of ''[[color:blue:House]] of Leaves''.]] With perhaps an equal degree of straight and parody of post-modernism. Of course, it's impossible to actually parody post-modernism so the effect just becomes even more recursive which becomes even more the point.
* ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler:Karen getting the]] [[color:blue:house]] [[spoiler:to let Navidson go.]]

to:

Changed line(s) 153 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 155,156 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 158 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 165 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 174 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 176,178 (click to see context) from:

* TemptingFate: Tom, while alone at the top of the Spiral Staircase, keeps poking fun at "Mr. Monster" and the [[color:blue:house]] in general. When he finally musters the courage to descend the stairs, [[spoiler: the whole thing stretches vertically, while the opening at the top scrunches up into an oval before becoming circular again.]] Tom justifiably shuts up and climbs back out to the top.
* TentativeLight: The climax. In an interesting twist, Navidson [[spoiler:burns a book titled ''[[color:blue:House]] of Leaves'']] to give him light. And in doing so, [[spoiler: he may have saved himself.]] Possibly.
* ThatWasTheLastEntry: The last entry in the notebook which is all that remains of an Eighteenth Century winter expedition which journeyed in the same area where the [[color:blue:house]] would eventually stand: "Ftaires! We haue found ftaires!" [[note]]"Ftaires" should be read as "stairs", because the old-fashioned elongated "s" ('&#383;') that looks like a modern "f" was mistranscribed by one of the interlocutors.[[/note]]

to:

Changed line(s) 181 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 185 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 191 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 193 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 196,197 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 207 (click to see context) from: