House of Leaves | The Grand Staircase Revealed?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ธ.ค. 2021
- Did I just unlock one of the secrets in the House of Leaves? Let me know what you think.
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This needs more views, pelafina even says she's gone through reams of paper writing to Johnny but didn't know where they went.
Love this! Also wanted to add, Pelafina’s writing is presented in Dante font, which is the font used for the books title. Seems another big indicator for P being the ‘real’ author.
I love how obviously obsessed you are with the book, because I also had my phase in which I took apart every information could get. House of Leaves is a insanely deep well of storytelling. I read it in german, and some of the words in the book are in german. It felt like I was getting some hidden clue haha.
Excellent video. May I add my own interpretation?
For me, the house represents the existential search for meaning within ourselves. Think about how each character responds to the house and the labyrinth within.
Will Navidson becomes obsessed with the house, to the point of eventually getting lost within it, until he is saved by Karen. Despite his glamor and success, Will remains haunted by his failure to save Delial, and this leads him into an endless spiral of rumination to try and make sense of his existence, as a man who documents horrors that he cannot stop. So that is what he literally does in the story: search for meaning in an endless labyrinth of his own mind, only saved by Karen at the end.
Karen is afraid of the house. She refuses to think about its mysteries are and what they might mean, just as she is afraid to think about what her own life's meaning is beyond living the idyllic nuclear family life, even in a house that clearly does not allow it. Only when Will's life is threatened does she enter, and she finds him a few feet inside the door. Karen's purpose is Will. It's that simple, and so she finds no maze to navigate.
Tom is an aimless alcoholic who feels like a failure. He's terrified of the house too, but he still enters in search for some sort of meaning. When he finds none, having been unable to confront his inner demon (Mr. Monster), it ends up being the death of him.
Holloway has no deeper meaning in his life besides gushing testosterone everywhere he goes. When forced to confront this reality, especially in a context where manliness is less valuable, he goes insane almost instantly.
great theory!
I commend your dedication! When I first read the book I had a sneaking suspicion that the pages themselves were a map. Completely useless to us in book form but if they were all taken out and rearranged like a big map it would show us something we couldn't see looking at the book one page at a time. I think it was something in the name that tipped me off.
Often times people misunderstand the phase "turning over a new leaf" to mean real leaves. But it refers to leaves of paper. Turning over a new page. The book is telling us in its very title, this is a house of pages and we are about to explore the house much like the others. It only makes sense that were so lost on it. All we are seeing is the house one room (page) at a time. What if we didnt need to? What if we were able to get a birds eye view of it all by constructing our own house of leaves?
I saw the roof of the building and my eyes widen. Congratz youre genius
This is literally the first video or post I've ever seen about this book that didn't seem like a complete reach. It also happens to perfectly fit with my own interpretation of the book. A+.
This is just about to be a bunch of pretentious nonsense, so feel free to tap out if you value your time that much.
I always say the book is about half a dozen characters, all dealing with some kind of trauma, trying to find meaning in a meaningless void, while ignoring the true purpose of life, in being with the people around them.
There's an argument to be made that any of the characters are the "main" character, and any of them could be the true "author" of the story, but one of the characters objectively wrote the book. At least, he did in the thing we call reality. The thing that existed before you read the book.
The main characters are Navi, Zampano, Johnny, Pelafina, Mark Z. Danielewski and you.
Zampano created a story in the HOL universe because of his own struggle with loneliness. Within his fictional world, Navi created a film about his struggle with trauma and loneliness, despite having much more than zampano. Johnny gets lost in this fictional world and pens his own version of his own struggle with lonlieness and trauma, despite being even less lonely and traumatized than Navi.
However, it turns out it was actually Johnny's mother's own imagined version of his life, and is just an apology for her failure due to her own struggles with loneliness and trauma.
Then it gets really meta, because we have literally all seen the guy who wrote the whole thing. I think his name is Mark. He clearly wrote it because of his own struggle with loneliness and trauma, and his own mother's battle with mental illness. He is every bit as much a character in the story as pelafina is, it's just that the hints giving that away are much more obvious, and we have much less backstory about him. That is, until you research him, just like you have to research many other topics in the book.
Then there's the fact that I'm a philosophy nerd, and I see a bunch of post modern influences in the story. This is the part I lose most people, but its also the part that makes this book my single favorite piece of fiction, full stop.
It turns out, you, the person reading the damn thing, are also a character. Not me, nor the chick who made this new discovery. You. You're creating your own version of the narrative and applying it to your own life, in relation to your own battle with loneliness and trauma, as you read. Even as you discuss the book. Your interpretation is more important than even Mark's. It might be the greatest love story, or it might be the mere ramblings of a schizophrenic. There is no clear line that separates the fictional world from reality. You are literally going through what the characters are supposed to have gone through, in real time, with them. The book exists just as much to you as it does to Navi or Johnny. If anything, you have the only version that is actually real.
The book is ultimately about 3 layers of different people experiencing a more fantastically obscured version of the same story you're reading. The book is literally about people reading the book. There is no ending, because everyone involved in the story just goes on living their lives, with this existential warhead being a part of reality now. The last time you think about the book is the true end of the story. That is, unless you talked to somebody about it.
So, hi; the 3 people who might ever read this. I am now a permanent fixture in your reality. You have a small picture of my own involvement in this story, and the end of my version of the story ends when you last think about it. You should probably go hug your family, and consider going to therapy. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with you, but there is probably something wrong with all of us.
As I wrote on the yggdrassil page in both my copies of the book...
Don't worry navi. It will be OK, but I told you this wasn't for you.
Astounding.
This was incredible, thank you for taking the time to write it!
Holy Sh$t!!!!! You, I love! This was amazing and you are a freaking genius!!!!!! Prepping to read this book and now I am way more excited to tackle it!!!!! Thank you Thank you!!!
I think it’s Johnny’s love letter to his mother, she started the book, but he finished it after he death as a sort of love letter. Read her letter to him : let me be your tree. And his reply to her near the end of the book!
This is so cool! Great work. I love that this book still gets people excited, and we have this community sharing new research together. I'll never get tired of it.
Also, I know I'm late to this video, but has anyone shared this with the author on social media? I know he at least has an Instagram. I bet he'd love this.
@@Juliana-Bub I haven't shared it, but feel free to do so.
Wow! My mind is blown 🤯Amaizing video. I am going to reread the House of Leave with this in mind! Thank you 🙏
I love how excited this book makes you. It is comforting to know that I’m not alone in this.
So I'm interested to hear how reading the story has gone with Pelafina being the author goes. Having only just completed my first read of the novel but one thing I would challenge is the way Navidson parallels Kevin Carter, Pelafina would have died before knowing of the photo of the Vulture and the Child. Granted in the literal reading Zampanó gets the timeline of the photo wrong but that could be written off as his madness
I just finished reading this book for the first time. I took everything at face value because if I didn’t I felt like i was going to go insane. I’ve never been more lost when watching a video before but now I’m sooooo excited to dive deeper into this book
you know, maybe that introduction was onto something. Reading this book really does make you obsessed
I absolutely love the idea that Pelafina is the author, and your research definitely paid off! It then got me to thinking about the reams of paper that she seemed to go through but disappeared, and her rocky relationship with the Director. What if he discovered her writings, saw how amazing they were, and started stealing them from her? Stockpiling them until he felt the novel was "complete?" Notice at the end when he writes to "Johnny" about his mother's declining health. Was he writing to Pelafina? Planting the idea in her head that her time on earth was coming to an end? He already had what he needed to steal her work and pass it off as his own, he just needed to remove the contradictory proof. Plus, his name is left blank. Could the Director be Danielewski? Is that why the very first page of the book is not connected to the spine like the rest, and can be easily removed? Far fetched, probably, but it's easy to let your imagination go wild with this novel 😂
I like the theory that mark z stole from a mental patient because I bought the hard cover of both the thousand year sword and only revolutions and they were not as good
@@cornballmcgoo7174I don't dare read any of his other stuff because I think he made this masterwork, and then nothing else important.
Such a deep and interesting book! I really want to read it 😂 I love how the date is a colour. It's a very creative way of making a complicated story, i don't think I could have been bothered to go into such depth 😂 yet it is crazy to think that a writer could have thought of so much depth themselve!
Great video. I would also recommend (which you may have done already) checking the rest of Pelafina's letters to see when she uses the 'first letter of each word' idea again. She writes a note to Zampano. I have no idea what to make of it!
I loved this video, incredible findings!
i think it's amazing how excited you are about this!
I descended into this kind of fascination before and just got my original copy back with all my notes. ❤ I love your enthusiasm.
That was a super great video, and I love how excited you are about the book. ❤
God bless you.
I love it! Way to go!! You inspire me.
This is good digging. Love it.
This is a great video! Please do more!
What an awesome take, I just read this book for the first time a month ago and loved it. I will definitely have to dive back in sometime soon.
Has anyone listened to Annie Danielewski's (Poe) Musical album that was released at the same time as the book was first released? It was supposed to be related to the House of leaves, and always wanted to know if that album actually adds to the book's narrative, I haven't read House of leave, but my research into the 90's musical artist (Poe) took me to House of Leaves. I know that I am missing the nuance of some of the things going on within the narrative of the "Haunted" album because I haven't read the book. I figured to mention it here to see if anyone else has listen to the album and has taken it and compared it to the book to see how it might have changed a few things.
Yes! It’s how I learned about the book!
There are direct references to the book. There’s a song about the five and a half minute hallway, Hey Pretty has a cut where they read some of Johnny’s narrative in between the verses. There are more, but it’s been a long time since I’ve read the book or listened to the album.
I think you are absolutely bonkers with this theory... Right along with all the rest of us :). Thank you for sharing.
The roof sells the grand staircase part for sure. Not so positive on the blue color though. There are thousands of shades of HEX blue that would look close enough to the print, many many dates would have fit. It could be intentional, but I think the real clue would be more specific.
Excellent sleuthing. I've always seen HoL as a love story, and I'm a fan of the idea that Pelafina wrote it.
Howdy there. I just have a question. I keep hearing that people find it to be a love story. But I'm just curious, a love story between which two characters?
@@coryc1904 All of them. Romantic and familial, and abstract. Navy and his wife is the obvious one, even though they split up afterward. Pelafina and Johnny - so much love in her letters. Zampano and Pelafina. MZD and his love of linguistics. Reader to novel. And remember that one puzzle where LOVE is in the center.
Love this! Well sleuthed. Did you ever get it "confirmed," if you can even meaningfully confirm this book?
Well done, great video.
Very good theory! Impressive findings!
You Play Control Ultimate Edition yet? If you liked this book than Control is gonna blow ur mind.
this book brings out the johnny in us all
Woah you did some super sleuthing!
I agree with the theory. Especially because the Louvre = Leaves ha
So cool!!
I think the only thing I noticed with Palefina's notes is the checkmark she said she'd put (or Johnny put? Didn't read this book in a while) which can be seen one page of the book.
Palais Garnier is also where the Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux, takes place.
You. are. brilliant.
Woah...
The cover doesn’t really match the roof and the color is the wrong shade of blue.
Louvre also doesn’t sound like lou vra.
very interesting work!
i really like what you've uncovered here and i like your theories. Loved the color discovery.
one thing that stood out to me while i was reading were the misspelled words. it struck me as really odd for such a peculiar book to have so many typos unless it was somehow done on purpose.
the next time i read this book i'll definitely be noting each misspelled word i find to see whether they relate to each other somehow.
but then again, with all the strange formatting throughout the book maybe spellcheck wasn't an option and these were just accidentals.
I have a theory on errors in the book. It's just taking a while to get it all pieced together.
Danielewski said any typos or mistakes are intentional. But idk if he was serious or just being mysterious a
My theory involves tracking them and it forming some sort of poem or something. I've kind of set my House of Leaves stuff aside for a while but I really should get back to it.
I absolutely love this theory, and several times throughout this video I said out loud, “Oh my god, she’s right!” That got me to thinking about all of the reams of paper Pelafina said she went through but seemed to disappear…and her battles with the Director. A crazy theory could be that the Director was stealing these stories that Pelafina was writing, saw how amazing they were, and stockpiled them to later release them as House of Leaves. Notice in the end that the Director’s name is left blank when he writes to Johnny about Pelafina’s deteriorating health? Then he decides to retire? Far fetched, but could Danielewski be the Director? Taking credit for a work that isn’t his? That’s why the very first page isn’t bound to the rest of the novel, but can be easily removed? Like I said, far fetched, but it’s easy to let your mind wander with this novel 😂
The idea of Pelafina as author is interesting and it allows us to read the key characters in the NR to represent facets of Pelafina and Zampano's relationship.
I struggle with the editor notes. Can I take the editors's notes as truth or is this also Pelafina - Pelafina gave us access to her letters in Whalestow? Why?