New Book About MZD's Works: "Mark Z. Danielewski" (Manchester University Press)

[Hazel]

"Mark Z. Danielewski"
Edited by Joe Bray and Alison Gibbons



http://www.manchesteruniversitypress...asp?id=1204876

This is the first book-length study of Mark Z. Danielewski, an American novelist who is rapidly establishing himself as a leading figure in the landscape of contemporary literature.

It places his three major works to date, of Leaves, The Fifty Year Sword and , in their literary-historical context, and considers them alongside the media platforms which they have inspired, including Internet forums and popular music. Leading critics examine Danielewski's pioneering novels, generating new insights into their innovative interplay of word and image.

A variety of critical perspectives are adopted, from the close analysis of the poetic form of to the consideration of the effects of his work on the reader. Danielewski's use of epic tropes is explored, as too is the relationship of his work to that of his most influential predecessors (including James Joyce) and his most relevant contemporaries (including David Foster Wallace). His radical reappraisal of the dynamic possibilities that the printed book has to offer in this digital age is a common theme.

The book will be of significant interest to all scholars working on Danielewski, as well as to students of the American novel, contemporary literature, and twenty-first century media culture. It will also appeal to Danielewski's many fans, and all those, who like the contributors to this volume, have been inspired by his work.

Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Joe Bray and Alison Gibbons

I. of Leaves
1. This Is Not for You: Alison Gibbons
2. Katabasis in Danielewski's of Leaves and Two Other Recent American Novels: Finn Fordham
3. s of Leaves, Cinema and the New Affordances of Old Media: Paul McCormick
4. This Haunted : Intertextuality and Interpretation in Mark Danielewski's of Leaves (2000) and Poe's Haunted (2000): Mel Evans
5. Trickster Authors and Tricky Readers on the MZD forums: Bronwen Thomas

II. The Fifty Year Sword
6. Reading the Graphic Surface of Mark Z. Danielewski's The Fifty Year Sword: Glyn White

III.
7. Only Evolutions: Joyce and Danielewski's Works in Progress: Dirk Van Hulle
8. , or, The Most Typical Poem in World Literature: Brian McHale
9. Mapping Time, Charting Data: The Spatial Aesthetic of Mark Z. Danielewski's : N. Katherine Hayles
10. Print Interface to Time: at the Crossroads of Narrative and History: Mark B. N. Hansen
11. and the Drug of Rereading: Joe Bray

Contributors
Index

Joe Bray is Senior Lecturer in Language and Literature at the University of Sheffield.

Alison Gibbons is Lecturer in Stylistics, Language and Literature at De Montfort University, Leicester.

UK Release Date: March 1, 2011
US Release Date: April 12, 2011

Pre-order on Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Danielewski-Co...7794435&sr=1-1

Pre-order from Macmillan:
http://us.macmillan.com/markzdanielewski

[Farehamer]

Sweeeeeet. Thanks for the heads up.

[MicheleVR5]

So is there a code in arrangement of the pieces in the cover?

[Ellimist]

So is there a code in arrangement of the pieces in the cover?

[Slow Dog Noodle]

Case closed. Looks like we can put this one to bed.

[Ellimist]

Heh, if it's any consolation, the original middle piece was upside down. And the original bottom left piece doesn't seem to have a place.

[MicheleVR5]

Heh, if it's any consolation, the original middle piece was upside down. And the original bottom left piece doesn't seem to have a place.

I got 7 out of 9 of them placed. I feel like it's that square slidey puzzle where you have to make the picture in the right order.

This is what I'm getting at here though...method to the madness, or no?

In Mark's work, there's allways a deeper underlying reason why something's seemingly randomly scattered. I would like to have seen that carry over to this cover...curious if the artist picked up on that, or was just told "here's some book titles, make it interesting"

[Ellimist]

Sure, we can go deeper into this. I don't want to do homework right now anyway.

Using normal matrix coordinates (m,n):

1,1   1,2   1,3

2,1   2,2   2,3

3,1   3,2   3,3


     


So we can see the following changes:

Moves:

1,1 -> 3,1
1,2 -> 1,2 (no change)
1,3 -> 2,3 (swap X)
2,1 -> 2,1 (no change)
2,2 -> 3,2 (swap Y and rotated 180 deg)
2,3 -> 1,3 (swap X)
3,1 -> 3,3 (unconnected piece?)
3,2 -> 2,2 (swap Y)
3,3 -> 1,1

I don't see any patterns at the moment. (also, to go the other way, change the direction of the arrows and start at the bottom, obviously)

[modiFIed]

Man, am I ever glad I'm not obligated to read that stuff anymore.

I do like to have fun with the "fun title - colon - academic context" conformist behavior though.

Academics are nothing if not emulative. That's why they write about other writers.

Let's see, what were some I came up with....

"You Don't Know Squat: Modern Weight Training Media as Extension of the Homoerotic Bonding Tradition"

"Tried to Fit and only Sharted: Phoneme Substitution Among First Year ESL Learners"

"With Alice Toward None: Lewis Carrol and his Reluctant Publishers"

Come on - join the fun. It beats reading literary analysis.

(I know, it's what we do here also - but in smaller bites and only when we feel like it.)

[DownwardSpiral]

Great news indeed! I'm very intrigued by the 'generating new insights ' line...

[modiFIed]

Well, sucking up is always nice, bot not interesting to read.

Ok, here's a better one.

Who rip-a-dese kids all up?: infanticide as metaphor in Medea

Come on, now, that's funny. Don't pretend it's not.

[elmago]

5. Trickster Authors and Tricky Readers on the MZD forums: Bronwen Thomas

I wonder what that one's going to be about

[John B.]

I wonder what that one's going to be about

I can't tell from the title. I thought I'd answer, though, because back in 2009 Thomas wrote me and, I assume, some other forum members to see if I/we had any interest in answering some questions about our sense of forum culture and demographics--things like, is there a forum hierarchy and how is that established, what interest members have in MZD as a person, the level and nature of women's participation, etc. I gather, then, that her article will be something of a sociological study.

I said only nice things about us. Of course.

One thing I hope will be reflected there is that, as she told me, she is impressed with the quality of discussion of the books here, especially as compared to typical fan sites for authors.

Hmm . . . this reminds me of something . . .

Don Quixote remained very deep in thought, waiting for the bachelor Carrasco, from whom he was to hear how he himself had been put into a book as Sancho said; and he could not persuade himself that any such history could be in existence, for the blood of the enemies he had slain was not yet dry on the blade of his sword, and now they wanted to make out that his mighty achievements were going about in print. For all that, he fancied some sage, either a friend or an enemy, might, by the aid of magic, have given them to the press; if a friend, in order to magnify and exalt them above the most famous ever achieved by any knight-errant; if an enemy, to bring them to naught and degrade them below the meanest ever recorded of any low squire, though as he said to himself, the achievements of squires never were recorded. If, however, it were the fact that such a history were in existence, it must necessarily, being the story of a knight-errant, be grandiloquent, lofty, imposing, grand and true.

[fatwoul]

Did my post in this thread get deleted? Wow.

EDIT: Actually, wow. If my post never got sent, then apologies. But if it got deleted because of the content, I would like someone to tell me.

[modiFIed]

Maybe you're too tricky.

Seriously - I strongly doubt our hands-off admins would delete a post due to unflattering content. It that's what it was.

That sociological person could not write to me, John, because my address is not on here. E-mail or otherwise. Anyway, I'm more of a spoiler than a "contributor." Also I'm sociopathic. Although I did garner a place of honor on the press review listing once. It was my finest hour.

OK, well, time for the revamp. I'll be keeping up with MZD on Facebook and Twitter - ha ha ha ha ha!

No seriously, see you later.

[nikhsub1]

Did my post in this thread get deleted? Wow.

EDIT: Actually, wow. If my post never got sent, then apologies. But if it got deleted because of the content, I would like someone to tell me.

You should know by now that your post would not be deleted. The only reason a post would ever be deleted are:

1. Spam
2. Putting someones private info up
3. Threatening to harm another member.

That's pretty much it, although you already knew this

[fatwoul]

You should know by now that your post would not be deleted. The only reason a post would ever be deleted are:

1. Spam
2. Putting someones private info up
3. Threatening to harm another member.

That's pretty much it, although you already knew this

OK then. Cos if it had been deleted I would, of course, have had to kill all of you, staple your privates to a wall, photograph it, and post it on here. Together with an advert for Cialis.

The post was simply me grumbling about the fact that T50YS is being included as one of MZD's core books, when it was so notoriously (and deliberately) difficult to obtain at the time of its release. I didn't see this as something delete-worthy, but all this talk of revamps made me wonder if there was a regime change at play as well.

[nikhsub1]

...all this talk of revamps made me wonder if there was a regime change at play as well.

Nope, still me and Hazel. More me though, of course . Although, she is much more useful than I am.

[ducknerd]

Oh this looks like a party. Very interested to see how #5 comes out, especially since it seems like the only one in the "" section that's likely to transcend the book's self-interpretations. Also, of course, thrilled at all the essays, especially the last. Wish there was more discussion of heirs to , given its weird relationship to inheritance. #7 might do that, and maybe #8 a little.

Also, $5 says they use correct coloration for the titles of the books.

EDIT: Any word on where/whether any of these articles have been previously published? A quick search on Google Scholar was fruitless, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. I don't really know how academia works: are these all original articles, or have they been culled from journals?

[fearful_syzygy]

I know this is a real lame question...

Erm, the publisher's website says
216x138mm 208pp
hb 9780719082627 01 March 2011 [that'd be today, then] £55.00
4 b&w illustrations

£55.00 is closer to $90.00, so I'd say you're getting a good deal at B&N.

[Stencil]

Getting the Bum's Rush: The Appreciation of Canadian Progressive Rock Within The Indigent Community, 1986-90

[modiFIed]

Now you're talking. Hey, I'm in Indiana. And yeah, that's as boring as it seems.

My apologies to any Indianaites out there. But for crying out loud, I had to drive through freaking Gary!

I should write an academic treatise about that -

Gary Indiana Gary Indiana Gary Indiana: Pathetic Irony in the Mid-Century American Musical

[Ellimist]

Has anyone read this yet?

[modiFIed]

I think Magda sent me an excerpt article, or maybe it was from some other journal but I think it was this collection.

Yeah, I need to clarify that - it was funny because modiFIed appears in several footnotes, along with Raminagrobis, that rascal. Others of you too, I think. Been too busy to read it.

Liking the new forum look - good job. Except references to are...well, hopefully you can see there what I'm on about.

[tawingfield]

I've read parts of this - managed to get it at my uni library but then left for summer - it's very good! The first chapter is ENTIRELY on the sentence "this is not for you".

It covers a lot of stuff that isn't usually discussed, and I think cuts out the obvious stuff, they realise people interested have already thought critically about it. Looks very good. Still, very expensive, but it's a niche textbook by lots of clever people, so it was always going to be!

Anyway, yeah, next term I'll read it through and give a more substantial review, but for now I'll say it's fascinating and well written!

[heartbreak]

I received this book as an xmas present. Being the narcissistic fellow I am, the first thing I did was read Thomas' "Trickster authors and tricky readers." I had been hoping it would showcase not only MZD's ingenuity but also the ingenuity that many of our forum members have shown over the years. No such luck. The gist of this piece is basically a retelling of every new member complaint about the forums. Of course my reaction to this is probably due to me being a part of the perceived hierarchy that dominates these forums. Oh well.

[LJonesy]

The gist of this piece is basically a retelling of every new member complaint about the forums. Of course my reaction to this is probably due to me being a part of the perceived hierarchy that dominates these forums. Oh well.

The book also wouldn't happen to have a search function would it?

[modiFIed]

This is pretty good - if you check the Amazon page for the book (in Hazel's first post) then scroll aaaaaalll the way down to the Listmania! section, there's a lone entry titled 'The Forty Worst Novels Ever Published' by one Joseph Suglia, who is by his own account 'The Greatest Author in the World'.

His list has many of the favorites of HOLers on it, many by Wallace, Pahluniak (the man really really does not like Chuck), Eggers, etc. And of course both of Leaves and .

The guy's actually very articulate - but no fan of the post-modern. Hint: his favorite author appears to be D.H. Lawrence.

[heartbreak]

This guy sounds like another Celio, although more articulate, as modi pointed out. Ran a google search, he has a book for sale on Amazon. Also, found an interview. Here's an excerpt:

Can you explain what you believe sets you apart from other American writers?

Whereas every other American “writer” writes like an average twelve-year-old, I maintain a high watermark of eloquence, intelligence, and sophistication. Some of these creatures call themselves “minimalists”; they are, in fact, infantilists. They “dumb-down” their prose in order to flatter readers with low reading levels. There was a time when I attacked such cretins by name. Now I merely refuse to read their illiterate “fiction.” The rise of self-publication has, if anything, contributed to the “dumbing-down” of American letters. Everyone and his brother calls himself a “writer” these days, which I see as the poisonous end of democratization. I may be the only genuine writer left in the United States of America. The intelligent love my books, and the mentally stunted despise them.

Dr. Suglia, you claim to be the “Greatest author in the world,” do you have any statistics to back up that presumptuous statement?

Aesthetic quality cannot be quantified or measured statistically. If I have declared myself “The Greatest Author in the World,” it is because I am the only living writer who fashions truly imaginative, elegant, and groundbreaking fiction. There are, of course, other “Greatest Authors in the World” who are still very much alive—J.G. Ballard, Martin Amis, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Pierre Guyotat—but they have produced nothing in recent years that would aesthetically approximate their earlier masterworks. I never nominated myself “The Greatest Man in the World”—I’m far from that. I am merely the greatest author in the world.

[modiFIed]

That's rich. I enjoyed the interview.

The guy also reminds me a bit of BM3000 when talking about his own stuff - i.e. the rest of the world is too thick to understand my genius, etc. - albeit this guy seems a bit less insane.