The 7 Underground Wonders of the World
Posted by John Brownlee
For the lover of Mark E. Danielewski’s House of Leaves (after Lolita, entry number 2 on Ectomo’s must-read list), the sub-chtonic labyrinths of the world are delicious capillary systems that define a metaphysical horror of space. Most old cities — cancerously spreading in all directions — are full of them: dead cities buried by the crush of urbanization, but still explorable by the unclaustrophobic spelunker.
I’ve been to quite a few of the underground labyrinths and catacombs in Web Urbanist’s excellent list of 7 Underground Wonders, and each time, my wonder has been thrillingly compressed into a hard knot in my heart by the weight of the thousands of tons of earth pressing down above me.
7 Underground Wonders of the World [Web Urbanist] : Coudal
Categories: Architecture, Books
Posted at 4:32 am on October 3, 2007
4 Comments -
I just finished “House of Leaves” and if I have learned one thing from that paranoid maze of footnotes, is the fact that your blog mention it means something, if only I could decode your blog.
Man that book messed me up.
Comment by Shon — October 3, 2007 @ 9:43 am
I haven’t read House of Leaves yet, but his sister Poe’s companion album Haunted has a spot in my Top 20 Favorite Albums.
Comment by Racerabbit — October 3, 2007 @ 12:10 pm
I just saw Mark Z D a week ago in Columbus lecturing on campus there, I’ve managed to catch him live 5 times in the last 7 years. And he is still on tour for the “Only Revolutions” paperback release. If you get the chance to catch him reading live – DO NOT PASS IT UP. He is gracious, brilliant, and utterly engaging in the really real world.
Comment by Jezcabelle — October 3, 2007 @ 7:35 pm
Having read “House of Leaves” myself, & being someone who easily falls under the spell of the/a (designated) sublime nymphette I came to the conclusion its author (no, not Nabokov) is/was a DFWwanna be, for “Infinite Jest” is so labyrinthine(/superior) that even Borges would dig it.
Comment by muse_x — October 4, 2007 @ 12:45 am