#HouseofLeavesChallenge

[nick-nocturne]

House of Leaves: Explored - Rest in Roots [III] (End)

Every labyrinth does have its end, and here, we escape the maze.

[anartisticexpression]

I am currently participating in @nick-nocturn ‘s House of Leaves challenge which is to read House of Leaves before the 9th of March when he will start uploading an in-depth analysis video about this deeply haunting novel. This will be my third read-through of the book though so spoilers aren’t a concern for me!

I am a volunteer at a Oxfam book shop and one day in May 2017, a fellow colleague of mine placed this newly donated book on a display stand in the Literature section right in front of me. My first thought was, “Oh. Oh! It’s that book that all the Slender Man people talk about! Jeff from EverymanHybrid had a copy in his room!”

My second thought was, “Oh, wow. I didn’t realise it was that big! This should be a good read!”

So I bought it for myself and was soon drawn into the experience that is House of Leaves...

[broblerone]

finally rereading this bad boy because of @nick-nocturn ‘s #houseofleaveschallenge !!!!! i cant wait!

[kowore]

I’m definitely doing this

Yall I just watched @nick-nocturn‘s house of leaves 9 day challenge video and I’m gonna be reading it for sure!!  There’s a free PDF on scribd (here: https://www.scribd.com/document/195621844/House-of-Leaves-pdf) so if yall wanna read it then feel free to!!  Feeling hella excited for the analysis of it, and to be able to read the book!!

[aomiarmster]

#Edden the #squishmallow #unicorn has joined me with the #HouseOfLeavesChallenge since I began reading the book in bed recently. She actually saved the book from falling into the abyss (gap between wall & bed frame- yes the book can fall. wth?) several times. I am almost done!

[teamoliv-archive]

Special Munday Pic

This is a munday picture also posted to twitter as part of Night Mind’s House of Leaves Challenge. May as well use it for here, too.

[celestial-alpacas]

@nick-nocturn #HouseOfLeavesChallenge Gotta love scouring the internet last night for a pdf of the House of Leaves, only to find we have a physical copy already. Thanks, Dad.

[savageinkspillage]

Challenge accepted! Currently about halfway. I’m gonna make it, I swear!

I’d been looking for something to read anyway, and man is this book getting to me. Can’t wait to see the vids!

[gwyndylynnrhys]

They had exactly one copy at the local bookstore near my work! Luckily it's cold today so I have time to read between customers.

[niteshade925]

Narcissism (SPOILERS)(long post)

I found this curious connection a while ago, but couldn’t figure out what it means.  I have a feeling that I might be close.  I need help.

Parents:

Every time the word “narcissism” appear in the text, it has to do with parents:

Like the very first page of the book.  Look closely at the text in the picture that seemed to tell a violent alternate narrative for The Navidson Record:

“Let both parents experience that.......their narcissism find a new object to wither by......them in infanticide.  Drown them in blood.”

The parents here are Will Navidson and Karen Green.

The effect of this on their children, Chad and Daisy, is hinted at throughout The Navidson Record, and from the looks of it, the effect wasn’t good.  At least, until they moved away at the end.

Page 246:

“By his own admission, Tom is nothing like his brother.  He has neither the fierce ambition nor the compulsion for risk taking.  If both brothers paid the same price for their parents’ narcissism, Will relied on aggression to anchor the world while Tom passively accepted whatever the world would give or take away.”

Page 22:

“Because the enormous narcissism of their parents deprived Will and Tom of suitable role models, both brothers learned to identify with absence.”

The parents here are Will and Tom’s parents, Tony Navidson and the unnamed mother.

(Side note here:  I think page 22 is all about what their narcissism entailed)

(Side note again:  another thing that’s been associated with “absence” is the labyrinth within the House, which is the object of obsession for both Will Navidson and Johnny)

So that makes the 2nd out of 3 sets of parents in the book that are “narcissists”.  The only remaining parents that has not been directly labeled are the parents of Johnny, his father and Pelafina.  But of course, by this time it’s kind of redundant; Johnny’s parents sort of left him too (if the text were to be taken at face value:  his father died in an accident, his mother was admitted to an asylum after an episode), although they didn’t quite leave because they wanted to.  Maybe that was the difference:  intention mattered.

God, Echoes, Creation:

Then there’s the mythological root of the word narcissism, Narcissus.  Narcissus was referenced a few times too, in curious places:

Chapter V (aka the “Echoes” chapter) introduces the myth and adds analysis.

And right before the “dual universe” quote, on page 45:

“...Rose took a careful accounting of St. John, chapter 1, Verse 1--”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

“‘Look to the sky, look to yourself and remember:  we are only god’s echoes and god is Narcissus.’“

Interestingly, the “dual universe” quote was the one Johnny described as familiar (footnote 57).

My thoughts :P

First off, I can be wildly incorrect about all of this.  Besides the fact of the quotes above, the other fact is I don’t know.  Everything below is just me guessing.

So there’s 2 things associated with narcissism:  parents, and god.  The former is abundantly clear in the book, we see the consequences of such narcissism throughout the entire book.  The latter seem to be associated more with..........the idea of creation?  Because God is seen in religion (and not just the God of Judeo-Christian tradition) as the creator of everything.  The Chapter V quote from St. John seemed to suggest that language was God and thus “the creator”.

Given the above, these were what I came up with:

All of this is part of the book’s comment on (the lack of) parental love:

Actions have consequences.  The parents, whether preoccupied by their own obsessions, or seeking remedies for their own trauma, are all ultimately obsessed with their own wants and needs, hence narcissism.  And since parents are also “creators” of their children, the quote that characterize god as Narcissus and his creations as his echoes can be seen as a comment on dysfunctional families.  Children of “absent” parents grow up with trauma, and when they grow up to be parents, they seek out forms of temporary relief, whatever it may be, to soothe their traumatized psyche.  This often manifest as reckless behavior or obsessions or fancies, and when it happens, their children are left to their own devices, at least emotionally.  This creates a vicious cycle that we can see in the Navidson family, and between Pelafina and Johnny.

This idea goes a little into the topic of love, but fails to explain the “dual universe” quote.

All of this is part of the book’s comment on the nature of creation, and what it means to be a creator:

This idea is heavily based on the St. John quote, which when taken as is in the book and without any other context, seems to suggest that language is the creator of all.  This immediately relates to writing, and how the writer of a work of fiction can be seen as a “god” of sorts.

A major running theme of the Whalestoe letters from Pelafina (Appendix II, section E), all of them addressing her son Johnny, her biological creation, is the power of language.  Specifically, the power of language to create and to provide an outlet for the creator.  

This can be especially important with regards to the authorship question.  If Zampano was the sole author (I think this is the least likely, due to way too little evidence), the book may be seen as his outlet; he seemed to have quite a complicated life filled with regret, judging by the bits and pieces from the women who apparently helped him in the drafting process.  

If Pelafina was the sole author, the book may be seen as her outlet for her regrets.  The “dual universe” quote can make sense here, since by writing the book, she would’ve created a little universe for her fictional son Johnny, and if I recall correctly, at some point in the Whalestoe Letters, Pelafina expressed hopes that her son wouldn’t turn out like her.

If Johnny was the sole author, he is definitely following his mother’s advice, writing this story as a way to remedy the various trauma he received as a child.  After all, we are introduced early on to his habit of crafting stories (ex:  the Birds of Paradise story), and as Johnny muses himself,

“We all create stories to protect ourselves.” (p.20)

Regardless of who is the author in-story, perhaps the book is trying to say that the act of creating is an outlet for the creator (writer, artist, composer, etc.), by preserving their experiences and emotions in a work of art.  Maybe not as a coping device (we see how relying on coping devices turned out for Lude and Holloway), but as a way of sequestering what may best be left behind.  The Navidson Record and A Brief History of Who I Love sequestered the trauma of Will Navidson, so that he could go on as a changed person.  If we take Johnny to be the sole author (and everything was fiction written by him), then maybe House of Leaves was his ticket to moving on with his life.

(This is definitely not the only thing the book might be saying about art and creation; for example, Karen’s short film about Navidson’s past also points to the way an artist’s creation also enables exploration of the artist’s inner self and facilitates personal growth)

Maybe both of these work, or maybe I’m wildly off-track, I don’t know.

[yobanet]

[nick-nocturne]

House of Leaves: Explored - Nine Days Challenge

It’s time. Will you accept the challenge and enter the House?

[oscartrashman]

Have you ever been so engrossed in a book that you didn't realize that the couch is trying to devour you?

#HouseOfLeavesChallenge #nick-nocturn

[damnbluewires]

Challenge accepted. @nick-nocturn

[aomiarmster]

went and bought💙 another copy of #Houseofleaves because my first book went missing 👀 and thanks to NightMind on YouTube I am doing the #HouseofLeavesChallenge --- I think I can reread this giant goober within 9 days.

[murtaugh-13]

Ariel, Kansas, first copy 2012, second 2014, hardback 2015, fastest I read it was one car drive from KC to Denver @nick-nocturn