<\/p>\n
Yes, I keep feeling ridiculous for trying to analyze this book. Last week when we were talking about whether or not Johnny Truant was a reliable narrator, someone asked, why does it matter? I\u2019m starting to feel that way about the whole book. Danielewski leads us around in his little text mazes, getting deeper into the analysis of a movie that doesn\u2019t exist, about a house that doesn\u2019t exist. Truant, for that matter, doesn\u2019t exist either. Neither does Navidson. Or Karen. Or her problems. Danielewski\u2019s writing fiction here.<\/p>\n
However, as much as it resists analysis, it kind of cries out for it. Sure, nothing really exists, but really, neither do the dark hallways, so everything at least relates. It reminds me again of the layers in The Crying of Lot 49<\/em>. Peel away everything only to reveal more layers:<\/p>\n “From the outset of The Navidson Record<\/em>, we are involved in a labyrinth, meandering from one celluloid cell to the next, trying to peek around the next edit in hopes of finding a solution, a centre, a sense of whole, only to discover another sequence, leading in a completely different direction, a continually devolving discourse, promising the possibility of discovery\u2026” (114).\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Even if Danielewski doesn\u2019t want us to interpret it, there\u2019s this need to at least mull over the deeper implications of everything that happens. Especially when he presents so much analysis of everything. I mean, given the interpretation of Minotaur-as-deformed-child, how could people just move on like that isn\u2019t an interesting consideration? At the very least, we can analyze his analyses, right?<\/p>\n I really like the part about the Minotaur, even though it\u2019s hard to read because of the strike-through. I also like how he describes how to read the text sort of the same way he describes how to view the movie. For example, he\u2019s talking about how Navidson mimics the distress code by timing his film clips to the pulse of SOS. At the same time, the text in the book forms a similar pattern. Later he leads us through the maze of text and footnotes, some dead ends, while explaining how to interpret a maze. I suppose this is pretty gimmicky, but I kind of like it because it reminds me in some ways of a comic strip \u2013 how you\u2019re visually led from one frame to the next.\u00a0<\/p>\n If the form of the text is so interwoven with the interpretation of the movie, is it any wonder the book itself gets analyzed? I\u2019m not sure how to read it without constantly applying whatever he says to Truant. I\u2019m also not sure what to do with the Sheehan Disability Scale. I guess it\u2019s like the ultimate form of analyzing the book, right? Put it through psychotherapy?<\/p>\n Also, can I just point out that on page 84, an article titled \u201cThe Illusion of Intimacy and Depth\u201d appears in an issue of Ladies\u2019 Home Journal<\/em>? That\u2019s pretty funny. So was the story about the captain with the red shirt\/brown pants.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yes, I keep feeling ridiculous for trying to analyze this book. Last week when we were talking about whether or not Johnny Truant was a reliable narrator, someone asked, why does it matter? I\u2019m starting to feel that way about the whole book. Danielewski leads us around in his little text mazes, getting deeper into … Continue reading More on Form and Function<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[39,10],"class_list":["post-311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-week-6-mzd","tag-danielewski","tag-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=311"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":313,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions\/313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}