Prendre au pied de la lettre les métaphores spatiales dans House of Leaves et Luminous Airplanes : arpenter le labyrinthe textuel

Abstract

This article aims to explore the links between textuality and spatiality in House of Leaves, published in 2000 by the American author Mark Z. Danielewski, and Luminous Airplanes, a hyperfiction by Paul La Farge released in 2012. These two works can be considered as non-linear; they also take into account their own medium and use it as a device, which implies for the reader to consider the materiality of the text during the reading act – and more specifically, the fact that the text unfolds in a specific space. Labyrinths – be it the shape of a paradoxical house or an initiatory cave – are used as structuring metaphors. To what extent can we literalize such metaphors? Can we consider that reading these two works is equivalent to measuring a complex space?