Abstract
Geoffrey Chaucer's dream poem The House of Fame explores virtual technologies of memory and reading, which are similar to the themes explored in Danielewski's House of Leaves. "[ftaires!]", apart from referencing the anecdotal (and humorous) misspelling of "stairs" in House of Leaves, is one such linguistically and visually informed phenomenon that speaks directly to how we think about, and give remembrance to, our own digital and textual culture. This paper posits that graphic design, illustrations, and other textual cues (such as the [ftaires!] mispelling in House of Leaves] have a subtle yet powerful psychological influence on our reading and memory of texts. Paratextual or "secondary" features of a text such as its typography, font choice, line design, color scheme, and even minutiae like kerning collectively approximate an ur-character whose sole function is to educate the reader on how the book should be read. Other interests explored in this paper include: catalogs (as a form of archiving), houses of memory, ekphrasis, and unreliable/extra-diagetic narrators.
First Advisor
Denise Despres
Second Advisor
William Kupinse
Third Advisor
Jane Carlin
Degree Type
Dissertation/Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts in English
Date of Award
Summer 8-1-2014
Department
English
Recommended Citation
Kilgore, Shannon Danae, "The [ftaires!] to Remembrance: Language, Memory, and Visual Rhetoric in Chaucer's House of Fame and Danielewski's House of Leaves" (2014). Honors Program Theses. 11.
https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/honors_program_theses/11
Included in
Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, Intellectual History Commons, Literature in English, Anglophone outside British Isles and North America Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, Medieval History Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, Modern Literature Commons, Other English Language and Literature Commons, Reading and Language Commons, Visual Studies Commons