Danielewski’s debut novel has been lauded for its panache, scope and audacity; praise which climaxed in Brett Easton Ellis’s effusive review that elevated Danielewski’s work above the achievements of Pynchon, Ballard, King and Foster Wallace. The text creates an excess of authorial and editorial comment that results in a pastiche of narrative authority. Footnotes dance through pages, are reversed and inverted, in a manner which serves to undermine the intended clarity and accessibility such academic mechanisms traditionally revere. The narrative play between different voices is intricately managed by the typesetting. Major characters, like Zampanò, Johnny Truant, the editors and Pelafina, are each allocated different font styles both as a way of differentiating between their narrative voices and also to comment subtly on their role (cf. Danielewski qtd. Eric Wittermershaus, Flak Magazine, 5th June 2000). The...
1376 words
Citation: Cox, Katharine. "House of Leaves". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 April 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21636, accessed 09 June 2026.]
