House of Leaves is a challenging novel. Its complex metatextuality seems to present multiple targets for scholarly critique and exegesis, just as its overwrought erudition anticipates and satirizes any attempt at analysis. Moreover, it is a novel informed and constituted by its network, both the pre-existing network of cultural, literary, and philosophical references that populate the text as well as the post-publication network of critical fandom that emerged around the official forum for the book. As Jessica Pressman has argued, House of Leaves is a networked novel, so this assignment invites you to participate in a unique experiment in re-networking House of Leaves, through a collaboration with students at four other institutions (Temple, Emory, George Mason and Converse).
As a group, we will be reading through House of Leaves and discussing it on a dedicated messageboard. Your task for this assignment is to contribute to this discussion as much commentary, analysis, and exegesis as possible. Our goal, like Pierre Menard's Don Quixote, is to re-create the discovery of House of Leaves's secrets, to decode it in a new context, a new decade. Our ultimate goal will be to read this crucial text as a network in both senses of that word- -a (digital)network of readers encountering a networked text -- to unravel its secrets and puzzles. The goal for each of us as individuals, then, is to contribute as much commentary, explanation, speculation, response, andanalysis as possible in this collective enterprise.
To complete this assignment, you'll first need to create an account on our forum, thisisnotfor.us. Choose a screen name for this account, and feel free to take some liberty in conceiving the persona that will occupy that screen name. Use that persona to post at least one new thread and at least five responses to existing threads. New threads can be questions, theories, provocations, interpretation -- anything that will generate an interesting response. Responses can be affirmations, elaborations, rebuttals -- anything that advances a particular line of inquiry.
I'll evaluate your contributions by their engagement with the project. Specifically, I will be looking for quantity, quality, and influence.
- Quantity. This does not mean that a deluge of low-quality posts will lead to a higher grade, nor that individual posts must be extraordinarily long in order to count. It does mean, however, that users who post below the minimum (6) required posts will receive a grade no higher than a C-. I encourage you to post more than that minimum, and I want to see posts that are long enough to engage a sustained and substantive conversation.
- Quality. Posts that are on-topic, interesting, and fully on board with the task of re-networking this novel are high quality. Posts that are off-topic or that are merely posts for the sake of posting are low quality.
- Influence. A post which generates several replies or ongoing discussion -- either in response posts or parallel (linked) discussions -- is influential.
This assignment is due by the beginning of class October 25. Turn in your work by submitting the URLs of the posts you wish me to evaluate. (Find this on the forum by browsing to your User Control Panel, then find the "Show your posts" link.)