Elizabeth Snow Writing as Art and Design Mairéad Byrne CORRESPONDENCE
Splendide-Hôtel by Gilbert Sorrentino arranges itself based on the sequence of the alphabet; the letters perform a variety of roles in the text, serving as subject, a cue for the author’s stream of consciousness, or a generator of an alliterative allegory. House of Leaves, on the other hand, exploits its structure in order to reinforce the narrative, rather than serving as its generator. Words on the book’s pages, at times, form empathetic drawings and compositions that reinforce the themes of the narrative. Danielewski evokes agoraphobia on sparse pages, claustrophobia and panic when the letters begin to cluster. The two books exploit the format of
onitnerroS trebliG yb letôH-edidnelpS eht fo ecneuqes eht no desab flesti segnarra fo yteirav a mrofrep srettel eht ; tebahpla euc a ,tcejbus sa gnivres ,txet eht ni selor ro ,ssensuoicsnoc fo maerts s’ rohtua eht rof esuoH .yrogella evitaretilla na fo rotareneg a sti stiolpxe ,dnah rehto eht no ,sevaeL fo ,evitarran eht ecrofnier ot redro ni erutcurts no sdroW .rotareneg sti sa gnivres naht rehtar citehtapme mrof ,semit ta ,segap s’koob eht eht ecrofnier taht snoitisopmoc dna sgniward sekove iksweleinaD .evitarran eht fo semeht aibohportsualc ,segap esraps no aibohparoga .retsulc ot nigeb srettel eht nehw cinap dna fo tamrof eht tiolpxe skoob owt ehT
wonS htebazilE ngiseD dna trA sa gnitirW enryB daériaM ECNEDNOPSERROC
the text to provide a frame for its words. Acknowledging that the word exists as more than simply an icon of sound, Sorrentino and Danielewski imbue their work with a different brand of synaesthesia ; the page reasserts itself as an object – as a medium for an image not just the transmission of an idea. Letters and their agglomerations become form-givers, shape-shifters. Narrative then flickers between the intangible world of the invented prose and the tangibility of its form on the page. The letters and words that construct the narrative have meaning as discrete symbols because of a social contract between the members of its linguistic culture; -inam si aisehtseanys eht ,krow s’onitnerroS nI fo tcejbus eht setanretla yllacitetapirep eh :dlof -er ,rettel eht fo mrof eht neewteb settengiv sih dnuos eht dna drow evitaretilla na ro sdrow detal citaieopotamono setareneg ybereht eH .flesti .evitarran )9 onitnerroS( toidi na dnuos ehT .b-b-b-b– B“ a ,ha ,oJ-oJ rebmemer I .sekam ”.eman toidi tcefrep
(Danielewski xxiii) This much I am certain of: it doesn’t happen immediately. You’ll finish and that will be that, until a moment will come, maybe in a month, maybe a year, maybe even several years. You’ll be sick or feeling troubled or deeply in love or quietly uncertain or even content for the first time in your life. It won’t matter. Out of the blue, beyond any cause you can trace, you’ll suddenly realize things are not how you perceived them to be at all. For some reason, you will no longer be the person you believed you once were. You’ll detect slow and subtle shifts going on all around you, more importantly shifts in you. Worse, you’ll realize its always been shifting, like a shimmer of sorts, a vast shimmer, only dark like a room. But you won’t understand why or how. You’ll have forgot-
.sdrow sti rof emarf a edivorp ot txet eht erom sa stsixe drow eht taht gnigdelwonkcA onitnerroS ,dnuos fo noci na ylpmis naht a htiw krow rieht eubmi iksweleinaD dna egap eht ; aisehtseanys fo dnarb tnereffid rof muidem a sa – tcejbo na sa flesti stressaer .aedi na fo noissimsnart eht tsuj ton egami na emoceb snoitaremolgga rieht dna sretteL neht evitarraN .sretfihs-epahs ,srevig-mrof fo dlrow elbignatni eht neewteb srekcifl fo ytilibignat eht dna esorp detnevni eht sdrow dna srettel ehT .egap eht no mrof sti sa gninaem evah evitarran eht tcurtsnoc taht tcartnoc laicos a fo esuaceb slobmys etercsid ;erutluc citsiugnil sti fo srebmem eht neewteb
In Sorrentino’s work, the synaesthesia is manifold: he peripatetically alternates the subject of his vignettes between the form of the letter, related words or an alliterative word and the sound itself. He thereby generates onomatopoeiatic narrative.
(Sorrentino 9) “B –b-b-b-b. The sound an idiot makes. I remember Jo-Jo, ah, a perfect idiot name.”
)iiixx iksweleinaD( -mi neppah t’nseod ti :fo niatrec ma I hcum sihT -om a litnu ,taht eb lliw taht dna hsinfi ll’uoY .yletaidem -yam ,raey a ebyam ,htnom a ni ebyam ,emoc lliw tnem delbuort gnileef ro kcis eb ll’uoY .sraey lareves neve eb rof tnetnoc neve ro niatrecnu ylteiuq ro evol ni ylpeed ro ,eulb eht fo tuO .rettam t’now tI .efil ruoy ni emit tsrfi eht -laer ylneddus ll’uoy ,ecart nac uoy esuac yna dnoyeb .lla ta eb ot meht deviecrep uoy woh ton era sgniht ezi uoy nosrep eht eb regnol on lliw uoy ,nosaer emos roF eltbus dna wols tceted ll’uoY .erew ecno uoy deveileb ni stfihs yltnatropmi erom ,uoy dnuora lla no gniog stfihs a ekil ,gnitfihs neeb syawla sti ezilaer ll’uoy ,esroW .uoy .moor a ekil krad ylno ,remmihs tsav a ,stros fo remmihs -togrof evah ll’uoY .woh ro yhw dnatsrednu t’now uoy tuB
the meaning in combination, however, comes from the mind of the author. The idea of oscillation then exists not only in the flicker of the tangible, but also in the generation of meaning between the author and culture.
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ten what granted you this awareness in the first place. Old shelters – television, magazines, movies – won’t protect you anymore. You might try scribbling in a journal, on a napkin, maybe even in the margins of this book. That’s when you’ll discover you no longer trust the very walls you always took for granted. Even the hallways you’ve walked a hundred times will feel longer, much longer, and the shadows, any shadow at all, will suddenly seem deeper, much, much, deeper.
)8 onitnerroS( eht no ylteiuq gnittis ,A ehT revo kcab dedlof sgniw ,egap ,AA .yfl a ,A .ydob gninihs eht fo tsom taht eurt si tI“ .seifl owt cinagro gniyaced ni deerb meht ew tub ,dnik emos fo rettam si tsugsid taht rebmemer tsum ”.noitcaer namuh a ylerup a ,erihspmaH weN nI )sposyrhC( yfl gnitib fo suneg dluow ti taht tnetsisrep os saw tcaxe eht litnu hsefl eht no yats eht htaeneb knas eno tnemom neve semitemos dna ,retaw -deef suonevar sti ni rednu tnew tnevele ,ecnetnes siht nI .gni .ssenkcalb neddus fo secnatsni .seifl nevelE A A A AA A A A A A
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semoc ,revewoh ,noitanibmoc ni gninaem eht fo aedi ehT .rohtua eht fo dnim eht morf rekcifl eht ni ylno ton stsixe neht noitallicso noitareneg eht ni osla tub ,elbignat eht fo .erutluc dna rohtua eht neewteb gninaem fo
A (Sorrentino 8) The A, sitting quietly on the page, wings folded back over the shining body. A, a fly. AA, two flies. “It is true that most of them breed in decaying organic matter of some kind, but we must remember that disgust is purely a human reaction.” In New Hampshire, a genus of biting fly (Chrysops) was so persistent that it would stay on the flesh until the exact moment one sank beneath the water, and sometimes even went under in its ravenous feeding. In this sentence, elevent instances of sudden blackness. Eleven flies. A A A AA A A A
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.ecalp tsrfi eht ni ssenerawa siht uoy detnarg tahw net seivom ,senizagam ,noisivelet – sretlehs dlO gnilbbircs yrt thgim uoY .eromyna uoy tcetorp t’now – snigram eht ni neve ebyam ,nikpan a no ,lanruoj a ni regnol on uoy revocsid ll’uoy nehw s’tahT .koob siht fo nevE .detnarg rof koot syawla uoy sllaw yrev eht tsurt leef lliw semit derdnuh a deklaw ev’uoy syawllah eht ta wodahs yna ,swodahs eht dna ,regnol hcum ,regnol .repeed ,hcum ,hcum ,repeed mees ylneddus lliw ,lla
(Danielewski 120) He attempts to convince the reader that the constant refiguration of doorways and walls represents a kind of geological loop in the process of working out all possible forms, most likely ad infinitum, but never settling because, as he states in his conclusion, ‘unoccupied space will never cease to change simply because nothing forbids it to do so. The continuous internal alterations only prove that such a house is necessarily uninhabited.’
)021 iksweleinaD( tnatsnoc eht taht redaer eht ecnivnoc ot stpmetta eH fo dnik a stneserper sllaw dna syawrood fo noitarugfier -sop lla tuo gnikrow fo ssecorp eht ni pool lacigoloeg gnilttes reven tub ,mutinfini da ylekil tsom ,smrof elbis deipucconu‘ ,noisulcnoc sih ni setats eh sa ,esuaceb -hton esuaceb ylpmis egnahc ot esaec reven lliw ecaps snoitaretla lanretni suounitnoc ehT .os od ot ti sdibrof gni ’.detibahninu ylirassecen si esuoh a hcus taht evorp ylno
A n x i e t y provoked by blank spaces is called agoraphobia
y t e i x n A yb dekovorp secaps knalb dellac si aibohparoga
Elizabeth Snow Writing as Art and Design Mairéad Byrne CORRESPONDENCE
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(Danielewski ten what granted xxiii)you this awareness in the first place. 120) He attempts This shelters Old much to convince I am – television, certain the reader of: itmagazines, doesn’t that the happen constant movies im–mediately. refi won’t guration protect You’ll of doorways you finish anymore. and andthat walls You willrepresents might be that, tryuntil scribbling a kind a moof ment in geological a journal, will come, loop on maybe in a napkin, the process in amaybe month, of even working maybe in athe out year, margins all mayposbethis of sible even forms, book. several most That’s years. likely when You’ll adyou’ll infibe nitum, discover sick or butfeeling you never no troubled settling longer or trust because, deeply the very in aslove he walls or states quietly you in always uncertain his conclusion, tookorforeven granted. ‘unoccupied content Even for the space fihallways rstwill time never inyou’ve your cease life. walked toIt change won’t a hundred matter. simplyOut because times of the willnothblue, feel beyond longer, ing forbids much any it to cause longer, do so.you The and can continuous thetrace, shadows, you’ll internal any suddenly alterations shadow realat ize all, onlythings will prove suddenly are thatnot such seem how a house you deeper, perceived is necessarily much, them much, uninhabited.’ to be deeper. at all. For some reason, you will no longer be the person you believed you once were. You’ll detect slow and subtle shifts going on all around you, more importantly shifts in you. Worse, you’ll realize its always been shifting, like a shimmer of sorts, a vast shimmer, only dark like a room. But you won’t understand why or how. You’ll have forgot
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