Mark Z. Danielewski: Revolutions, Revelations and Remediation

“America’s foremost literary Magus […] He transmutes the pages of base books into rare new forms and formats” – The New York Times

Danielewski’s work is “a verbal structure made for puzzle solvers- cerebral doers of crosswords, readers devoted to decoding, practitioners of mental calisthenics longing to flex and possibly display their muscles” – LA Times

“Many would say that Mark Z. Danielewski’s books are unlike any others on Earth […] He might be the only novelist whose text can stun at first glance […] Danielewski has astronomical talent no matter how big the literary universe gets” – Book Slut

Danielewski was born in New York City on March 5th, 1966. He is the son of Polish avant-garde film director Tad Danielewski and the brother of singer/songwriter Annie Decatur Danielewski, a.k.a. Poe. Danielewski studied English Literature at Yale, before moving to Berkeley, where he enrolled in a summer program in Latin at the University of California. He also spent time in Paris, preoccupied mostly with writing.

In the early 1990s, he pursued graduate studies at the USC School of Cinema-Television. He later served as an assistant editor and worked on sound for Derrida, a documentary based on the life of the Algerian-born French literary critic and philosopher Jacques Derrida. In 2000, Danielewski toured with his sister across America at Borders Books and Music locations, promoting Poe’s album Haunted, which is frequently referenced in his millennia debut masterpiece House of Leaves

Following this award-winning and best-selling novel (read my review here), Daniewlewski wrote the National Book Award finalist Only Revolutions, and the novella The Fifty Year Sword, which was performed on Halloween three years in a row at REDCAT. His books have been translated into multiple languages and have earned a dedicated cult following. One might be tricked into thinking that this is an author who is filled with certainty and whose books are concrete works of fiction. This is not the case.

Danielewski is a metaphorical walking contradiction. He is filled with both light and darkness. He appears at once both self-assured and riddled with uncertainty. He creates texts that act as kaleidoscopic mirrors. He wants you to connect with his most inner thoughts and yet he isolates you completely.

Strangely, this only draws us closer.

How would one label Danielewski’s work you ask? Postmodern? Ergodic? Metafictional? The answer is simple: His works are all of these. They are academic. Satirical. Horrifying. Wonderful. They are challenging to read and yet invite you to interpret. Taunting you. Beckoning you closer, only to drag you into nihilistic worlds of emptiness and uncertainty. Indeed, the doubt that you feel is created in part by the aesthetic metamorphosis of the textual space. I call this unique transformation architextual. Rather than filling each page entirely with words, his works are as much novels as they are experiments in elaborate typography and visual design. Pages are filled with typographical labyrinths, various fonts and colours, footnotes, cryptic codes, and sometimes, nothing at all. Danielewski’s works are an invitation to explore, as well as a challenge to forget and re-learn everything you know about the act of reading. Ultimately, whatever you think you know only leads to more questions.

A revolutionary force in modern literature, his books are pieces of art for you to hold, study and marvel at at length. He dares the reader to embark on a quest of discussion, analysis, interpretation and, inevitably, self-discovery. A remarkable feat of heart and intellect, Danielewski’s novels are beguiling, gripping and world-wrecking.

Danielewski has forged his own space within contemporary fiction and, thankfully, with his ongoing twenty-seven volume project, The Familiar, and the conversion of his 2006 novel Only Revolutions into a ground-breaking interactive eBook, Danielewski shows no sign of moving.

You can watch a clip from the interactive eBook via Danielewski’s Facebook page here and watch a trailer of The Familiar Vol. 1: One Rainy Day in May below.