The house has been described as history. Zampanò suggests that "The house is history and history is
uninhabited." (p. 540). As we know, the noun history stems from two words. His story. It would be foolish to put it past Mark Z. Danielewski not to have understood the etymology of the word.
Let's imagine that this is in reference to Zampanò's own story, the myth buried within his essay - the myth that is The Navidson Record. The house is thus the story of Zampanò. However, we can look deeper than this simple inference. History, the story of a person, is in essence, his past experience. And the house has been called a "solipsistic enhancer". I can't remember the page of that one. What it suggested however, was that one's own cognitions influence the behaviour of the house. For instance, after the staircase is first completely descended, it takes a significantly lower amount of time to reach the top again. It is proposed that this is because the explorers are aware of the fact that the stairs are finite, and that the knowledge that there was an end in sight created a feeling of optimism, which in turn caused the house to shift, reflecting their own more confident, positive emotions.
In essence, their experience at having found the bottom of the stairs influenced their perception of that place, and as we have discussed, the house responds to perception. It echos and reflects it. People's individual past experiences, or as we can now call it, history - whether it is as short-term as remembering the end and beginning of the spiral steps you have found, or as long-term as Tom's reasons for adopting fatalism, which ultimately results in his death - defines their perception. We are but the sum of our past experiences, behaviorists would claim. In the house on Ash Tree Lane, our history can have colossal repercussions.
I've probably made this more wordy than it needs to be, and I'm sure there's a typo or two, but it's late evening now and I'm tired. I just needed to get this out. God this book is brilliant. I'm currently waiting for a second copy to arrive. I bought the full colour edition on ebay so that I can make notes in one of them, and leave the other clear.
Still no reply from KCRW.
Let's imagine that this is in reference to Zampanò's own story, the myth buried within his essay - the myth that is The Navidson Record. The house is thus the story of Zampanò. However, we can look deeper than this simple inference. History, the story of a person, is in essence, his past experience. And the house has been called a "solipsistic enhancer". I can't remember the page of that one. What it suggested however, was that one's own cognitions influence the behaviour of the house. For instance, after the staircase is first completely descended, it takes a significantly lower amount of time to reach the top again. It is proposed that this is because the explorers are aware of the fact that the stairs are finite, and that the knowledge that there was an end in sight created a feeling of optimism, which in turn caused the house to shift, reflecting their own more confident, positive emotions.
In essence, their experience at having found the bottom of the stairs influenced their perception of that place, and as we have discussed, the house responds to perception. It echos and reflects it. People's individual past experiences, or as we can now call it, history - whether it is as short-term as remembering the end and beginning of the spiral steps you have found, or as long-term as Tom's reasons for adopting fatalism, which ultimately results in his death - defines their perception. We are but the sum of our past experiences, behaviorists would claim. In the house on Ash Tree Lane, our history can have colossal repercussions.
I've probably made this more wordy than it needs to be, and I'm sure there's a typo or two, but it's late evening now and I'm tired. I just needed to get this out. God this book is brilliant. I'm currently waiting for a second copy to arrive. I bought the full colour edition on ebay so that I can make notes in one of them, and leave the other clear.
Still no reply from KCRW.
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