Danielewski Coming to Mad Art

I’m so excited I can barely see straight.

Yesterday I was meeting Gina at her new apartment in the Central West End, but I was early, so I walked over to Left Bank Books. I enjoy shopping at Left Bank, in no small part due to the excellent staff. It is rare to encounter genuinely enthusiasm in those who are required to serve the general public, but the staff members at Left Bank are an exception. It’s fun to see the counter person’s reaction when I’m purchasing a selection of particular interest to or especially loved by him or her, especially if I’ve dug it out of exile from the (surprisingly good) used section downstairs.

When I walked into Left Bank yesterday, I didn’t need any books. I was extremely aware of this, but I have a… problem… which I justified by telling myself I was just going to get the summer edition of The American Scholar and see if they carried n+1. Of course, when I walked in the door I drifted to the right to peruse the new books section instead of following a straight path to the periodicals. A book- the title is escaping me right now- which was recommended by a friend caught my eye. However, I discovered by reading the jacket that it was the “anticipated conclusion” to a four-book series. I was (am) completely unfamiliar with the author and the series, so I asked the counter staff if either of them had perhaps read anything by the author? Did they by chance know whether or not I should read books 1-3 before purchasing book 4? They were not familiar with the author either, so I headed over to the “C” authors in the fiction section to look for other books by the guy. There weren’t any. However, in the “D” section, Only Revolutions caught my eye.

Only Revolutions is the the new(ish) book by Mark Z. Danielewski, author of House of Leaves. (H of L link contains spoilers.) He’s also the son of Polish avant-garde film director Tad Danielewski, and his sister is Poe, the singer and songwriter. Poe is awesome, by the way, and has done projects with her brother. Her album Haunted apparently dovetails with the book House of Leaves, and the book and her CD were released at the same time.

Last winter, I read House of Leaves, which developed a cult following through gradual release over the internet and was subsequently published in 2000. It was recommended by my friend Byron (thank you), who I became friends with in small part because I was reading The American Scholar at the diner, just to bring this post around full circle for you, ‘cause that’s just how I roll. (AS isn’t quite as pretentious as it seems, despite being published by the Phi Beta Kappa Society and describing itself as ” venerable but lively”. It’s good. You should check it out. A large portion of the print content is now available online.) Anyway, I immediately fell in totally in love with House of Leaves. If I try to begin describing it, I’ll write for an hour, so I’ll just borrow a description from wikipedia:

“The format and structure of the novel is unconventional, with unusual page layout and style typical of ergodic literature . It contains copious footnotes, many of which contain footnotes themselves, and some of which reference books that do not exist. Some pages contain only a few words or lines of text, arranged in strange ways to mirror the events in the story, often creating (paradoxically) both an agoraphobic and a claustrophobic effect. The novel is also distinctive for its multiple narrators, who interact with each other throughout the story in disorienting and elaborate ways.

House of Leaves has been described as a “satire of academic criticism .”

Loved. It. I even started writing a… thing?… on why/how House of Leaves could be read as an expansion on T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland. I should find it, if it still exists on my hard drive or web server somewhere, and you know, finish it. Why? I have no idea. It’s fun though. (I know, I’m sickening.)

Anyway, I loved Danielweski’s House of Leaves, so when Only Revolutions appeared, I was excited. However, I began hearing and reading that it wasn’t nearly as good as first book, blah blah blah, and I admit, I was a victim of peer pressure and book critics. I was swayed. I longingly looked at it on bookstore shelves time after time, but always opted to purchase something else. Until yesterday, when I spontaneously decided I didn’t care, and wanted very much to read it anyway. I picked it up, swung by the periodicals, and marched up to the counter. “I decided on something else after all,” I remarked, referring to the book-series-which-I-can’t-remember-now issue. One of the clerks joyfully picked up Only Revolutions and turned to the other clerk. “Look what she’s getting instead!”

YES! Genuine approval from the Left Bank staff! It’s rarely failed me before. Their take, in case you’re wondering, was that Only Revolutions is simply very different from House of Leaves, thus the mixed reviews, which was my private suspicion.

I began having an excited conversation about the book with the clerks, basically relating everything I’ve discussed in this blog post. They gave me an envelope of mysterious stickers, and assured me that the purpose would be clear when I read the book. And then, I discovered…

Mark Z. Danielewski is coming to St. Louis! To Mad Art Gallery! He’ll be here on Monday, September 24th, at 7PM! He’ll be signing Only Revolutions! He’ll also be reading! I’m told he does wonderful readings! I’m jumping up and down in my leopard print ballet flats! I usually avoid exclamation points for this very reason! I think they are a disease! I have a headache now! Mark Z. Danielewski looks very attractive in his MySpace photo! I can’t believe I just said that!