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Cette thèse veut explorer l’idée de l’existence d’un roman de la non-linéarité, à travers un inventaire de la critique et l’analyse comparée de quatre ouvrages considérés comme appartenant à cette tradition (The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman, de Laurence Sterne ; Pale fire, de Vladimir Nabokov ; La vie mode d’emploi, de Georges Perec ; House of leaves, de Mark Z. Danielewski).Dans le premier chapitre, est postulée la thèse de deux traditions dans l’histoire du roman : la tradition du roman réaliste, et une tradition caractérisée par l’utilisation de formes non linéaires. L’analyse des études sur la tradition réflexive du roman, sur la théorie du chaos appliquée à la littérature, sur les marges textuelles, sur la lecture et sur l’intertextualité seront pris en compte pour soutenir cette thèse.Sur la base de ces questionnements, le deuxième chapitre esquisse une définition du roman de la nonlinéarité, qui comprend un répertoire des procédés et des thèmes communs à cette tradition, ainsi qu’une réflexion sur ses approches du monde et de l’identité humaine.Le troisième chapitre laisse la place à l’analyse des textes du corpus. Les quatre romans sont analysés chacun pour ses spécificités, et aussi dans la perspective de vérifier le postulat d’une tradition d’un roman de la non-linéarité. En s’appuyant sur de nombreux exemples extraits des romans pris en considération, l’analyse s’articule en huit sections : le problème du commencement ; l’intertextualité ; la complexité du récit de vie ; les questions de l’interruption, de la procrastination et de l’absence ; les approches dutemps ; les approches du langage ; le thème du jeu ; l’impossibilité de la fin. / This thesis aims to explore the idea of the existence of a novel of nonlinearity, through an inspection of the criticism and the comparative analysis of four works considered as belonging to this tradition (The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne; Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov; Life, a User’s Manual (La vie mode d’emploi), by Georges Perec; and House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski).The first chapter postulates the thesis of two traditions in the history of the novel: the tradition of the realist novel, and a tradition distinguished by the use of nonlinear forms. In order to support this thesis, I’ll take into account studies about the reflexive tradition of the novel, about chaos theory as applied to literature, about the margins of the text, about the reading experience, and about intertextuality.On the basis of this examination, the second chapter outlines a definition of the novel of nonlinearity, which includes a repertoire of the literary devices and themes common to this tradition, and a reflection about its perspectives upon the world and human identity.The third chapter is dedicated to the analyses of the texts included in the corpus. The four novels are analyzed for their distinctive features, and also in the aim of verifying the premise of the existence of a novel of nonlinearity. Drawing on numerous examples selected from the novels, these analyses are structured in eight sections: the problem of beginning; intertextuality; the complexity of life narratives; the issues of interruption, procrastination and absence; the approaches to time; the approaches to language; the theme of the game; and the impossibility of an ending.

Walking in the house of Daedalus – An analysis of the katabasis motif in Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves   This study analyses the depiction of the labyrinth as a symbolic landscape in regard to both subject and form in the multi-layered novel House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Using the mythological katabasis motif as a structural principle, this study discusses modern labyrinthine narratives wherein selfhood is constructed through an infernal journey between a descent and a return. This study analyses the novel with a thematic perspective from two points of view; how the labyrinth acts as central motif for the self in the novel and how the novel visually depicts the narrative through typographical choices throughout the text. The study’s main question is how the novel depicts the labyrinth in regard to its historical and cultural context and how it inscribes itself into a tradition of narratives that depicts the labyrinth as a metaphor for the mind and as a symbol for the exploration of the self.   The result shows that House of Leaves uses a complex cluster of narratives to tell a katabatic story, both through the narrative and the form. Through the symbolic landscape and through the use of a genre typical and uncanny horror story, House of Leaves tells a story about alienation, guilt and love where the characters psychological developments changes in regard to confrontations with the labyrinth and through the symbolical tests that exists throughout the katabatic journey. The characters ascends traumatized from the labyrinth, but are at the same time rewarded with personal insight

Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves and Audrey Niffenegger's two visual novels The Three Incestuous Sisters and The Adventuress all contain examples of manipulated paratext - paratexts being the devices involved in the presentation of the text such as titles, author names, font, introductions, illustrations, appendices, advertising, and interviews. The emphasis these authors place on these usually inconspicuous devices is an expression of the irrational themes contained within these texts. The irrational is an underlying theme of the Gothic genre and through examining the use of manipulated paratexts this thesis demonstrates how these texts make use of the irrational Gothic elements that are present within the postmodern. While Danielewski and Niffenegger both have these similar themes, the effects they create are extremely different. Niffenegger creates écriture feminine, or feminine writing as described by Hélène Cixous, by prioritising illustrations that feature marginalised bodily expression in order to convey the narrative rather than text. Danielewski, on the other hand, produces a text that is a pure pastiche of Gothic and postmodern devices in order to emulate the postmodern media in its creation of hyperreality and to reproduce the sensation of a media that possesses and changes its consumers. House of Leaves is the instigator for a number of similar texts that have been published since the turn of the millennium which will be considered an emerging literary movement.

Samuel Beckett penned novels, short stories, poetry, stage plays, radio plays, and scripts—and he did each in a way that blended genre, challenged the norms of creative writing, and surprised audiences around the globe. His experimental approach to creative writing included the use of absurdism, genre-hybridization, and ergodicism, which led to Beckett fundamentally changing the approach to creative writing. His aesthetics have trickled down through the years and can be seen in contemporary works, including Aimee Bender’s short story collection The Girl in the Flammable Skirt and Mark Z. Danielewski’s novel House of Leaves[1]. By examining these works in comparison to Beckett, this project hopes to illuminate the effects of Beckett’s experimentation in form and genre on contemporary creative writing. [1] The word ‘house’ appears in blue to honor Danielewski’s decision to have the word printed in that color each time it appears in his novel.

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