House of Leaves is certainly about the unsettling nature of fear - and it was my aim to address that - but its also about recovering from fear.
Mark Z. DanielewskiDo not wake me from this slumber, but be assured that just as I have wept much, I have also wandered many roads with my thoughts.
Mark Z. DanielewskiAnger is one way to respond to fear. I say one way because responses are categorically multiple.
Mark Z. DanielewskiExplanation is not half as strong as experience but experience is not half as strong as experience and understanding
Mark Z. DanielewskiBecause the enormous narcissism of their parents deprived Will and Tom of suitable role models, both brothers learned to identify with absence. Consequently, even if something beneficial fortuitously entered their lives they immediately treated it as temporary. By the time they were teenagers they were already accustomed to a discontinuous lifestyle marked by constant threats of abandonment and the lack of any emotional stability. Unfortunately, "accustomed to" here is really synonymous with "damaged by.
Mark Z. Danielewski