Mark Z. Danielewski / edited by Joe Bray and Alison Gibbons.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bray, Joe, editor.

Gibbons, Alison, editor.

Series:

Contemporary American and Canadian writers

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Danielewski, Mark Z--Criticism and interpretation.

Danielewski, Mark Z.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

xii, 224 pages ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press, 2011.

Summary:

This is the first book-length study of Mark Z. Danielewski, an American novelist who is rapidly establishing himself as a leading figure in the landscape of contemporary literature.

It places his three major works to date, House of Leaves, The Fifty Year Sword and Only Revolutions, in their literary-historical context, and considers them alongside the media platforms which they have inspired, including internet forums and popular music. Leading critics examine Danielewski's pioneering novels, generating new insights into their innovative interplay of word and image. A variety of critical perspectives are adopted, from the close analysis of the poetic form of Only Revolutions to the consideration of the effects of his work on the reader. Danielewski's use of epic tropes is explored, as too is the relationship of his work to that of his most influential predecessors (including James Joyce) and his most relevant contemporaries (including David Foster Wallace). His radical reappraisal of the dynamic possibilities that the printed book has to offer in this digital age is a common theme.

The book will be of significant interest to all scholars working on Danielewski, as well as to students of the American novel, contemporary literature and twenty-first-century media culture. It will also appeal to Danielewski's many fans, and all those, who like the contributors to this volume, have been inspired by his Work. Book jacket.

Contents:

I House of Leaves

1 This is not for you / Alison Gibbons Gibbons, Alison 17

2 Katabasis in Danielewski's House of Leaves and two other recent American novels / Finn Fordham Fordham, Finn 33

3 Houses of leaves, cinema and the new affordances of old media / Paul McCormick McCormick, Paul 52

4 This haunted house: intertextuality and interpretation in Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves (2000) and Poe's Haunted (2000) / Mel Evans Evans, Mel 68

5 Trickster authors and tricky readers on the MZD forums / Bronwen Thomas Thomas, Bronwen 86

II The Fifty Year Sword

6 Reading the graphic surface of Mark Z. Danielewski's The Fifty Year Sword / Glyn White White, Glyn 105

III Only Revolutions

7 Only evolutions: Joyce's and Danielewski's works in progress / Dirk Van Hulle Hulle, Dirk Van 123

8 Only Revolutions, or, The most typical poem in world literature / Brian McHale McHale, Brian 141

9 Mapping time, charting data: the spatial aesthetic of Mark Z. Danielewski's Only Revolutions / N. Katherine Hayles Hayles, N. Katherine 159

10 Print interface to time: Only Revolutions at the crossroads of narrative and history / Mark B. N. Hansen Hansen, Mark B. N. 178

11 Only Revolutions and the drug of rereading / Joe Bray Bray, Joe 200.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780719082627

0719082625

OCLC:

687698404