Mark Z. Danielewski

Mark Z. Danielewski
File:Mark Damezewski by David Shankbone 1.jpg
Born	(1966-03-05) March 5, 1966 New York City
Occupation	Novelist
Genre	Satire, Horror
Literary movement	Postmodern, ergodic literature, signiconic literature
Notable works	House of Leaves
Relatives	Poe (sister) Tad Danielewski (father)
Website
www.markzdanielewski.com

Mark Z. Danielewski (born March 5, 1966 in New York City) is an American author, best known for his debut novel House of Leaves (2000). Danielewski's work is characterized by experimental choices in form, such as intricate and multi-layered narratives, typographical variation, and inconsistent page layouts, otherwise known as visual writing, or as he refers to it, "signiconic" literature.

Biography

Danielewski was born in New York City, 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. He then moved to Berkeley, California, where he enrolled in a summer program in Latin at the University of California, Berkeley. 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.

House of Leaves, Danielewski's first novel, has gained a considerable cult following and won the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award. His second novel, Only Revolutions, was released in 2006. It was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award.

In 2000, Danielewski toured with his sister across America at Borders Books and Music locations, promoting Poe’s album Haunted, which reflects elements of House of Leaves.

He is a fan of Biffy Clyro as the band discovered when Danielewski attended one of their shows after they borrowed the title of his novel Only Revolutions for their own album.

On September 15, 2010, Danielewski announced his next novel on his message board: "Later this month publishers will receive the first 5 volumes of Mark Z. Danielewski's 27 volume project entitled The Familiar. The story concerns a 12-year-old girl who finds a kitten..." The book was released in the United States on May 12, 2015.

Bibliography

• House of Leaves (2000)
• The Whalestoe Letters (2000)
• The Fifty Year Sword (2005)
  • Originally released in the Netherlands. United States release: 2012
• Only Revolutions (2006)
• The Familiar, Volume 1: One Rainy Day in May (2015)
• The Familiar, Volume 2: Into the Forest (2015)
• The Familiar, Volume 3: Honeysuckle & Pain (2016)

References

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External links

• Official website
  • Forums
• Mark Z. Danielewski at the Internet Movie Database
• Exploration Z(Fan site 2005—12)
• Interviews