House of Leaves

"It is not by accident that choirs singing Psalms are most always recorded with ample reverb. Divinity seems defined by echo. Whether the Vienna Boys Choir or monks chanting away on some chart climbing CD, the hallowed always seems to abide in the province of the hollow. The reason for this is not too complex. An echo, while implying an enormity of a space, at the same time also defines it, limits it, and even temporarily inhabits it.
    When a pebble falls down a well, it is gratifying to hear the eventual plunk. If, however, the pebble only slips into darkness and vanishes without a sound, the effect is disquieting. In the case of a verbal echo, the spoken word acts as the pebble and the subsequent repetition serves as "the plunk." In this way, speaking can result in a form of "seeing.""

pgs 46-47

""...in order to consider how distances within the Navidson house are radically distorted, we must address the more complex ideation of convolution, interference, confusion, and even decentric ideas of design and construction. In other words the concept of a labryrinth."

pg. 109


"Maze-treaders, whose vision ahead and behind is severely constricted and fragmented, suffer confusion, whereas maze-viewers who see the pattern whole, from above or in a diagram, are dazzled by its complex artistry. What you see depends on where you stand, and thus, at one and the same time, labyrinths are single (there is one physical structure) and double: they simultaneously incorporate order and disorder, clarity and chaos. They may be perceived as a path (a linear but circuitous passage to a goal) or as a pattern (a complete symmetrical design) . . . Our perception of labyrinths is thus intrinsically unstable: change your perspective and the labyrinth seems to change."

pgs. 113 - 114

"When revisiting places we once frequented as children, it is not unusual to observe how much smaller everything seems. This experience has too often been attributed to the physical difference between a child and an adult. In fact it has more to do with the epistemological dimensions than with bodily dimensions: knowledge is hot water on wool. It shrinks time and space.
(Admittedly there is the matter where boredom, due to repetition, stretches time and space. . .)"

pg. 167

"...representation does not replace. It only offers distance and in rare cases perspective."

pg. 346

"In the middle of all distance stands this house, therefore be fond of it." -Hermann Broch

pg. 437

SPOILER:
"Sure enough the final frames of Navidson's film capture in the upper right-hand corner a tiny fleck of blue crying light into the void. Enough to see but not to see by."

pg. 489