Mark Z. Danielewski was born in New York City and lives in Los Angeles. He is the author of House of Leaves, Only Revolutions and The Whalestoe Letters.
“The Fifty Year Sword is a clever experiment in voice and
structure, a prose poem consisting of cascading waves of dialogue
spoken by five different narrators looking back on a single
frightening night. . . . The joy of the book comes mostly from the
physical act of turning the pages and scanning the layout, but the
language deserves mention as well. In fact, some of the diction and
words echo Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” or James Joyce’s Finnegans
Wake, as separate words and phrases collide to make one and bits of
words rearrange to form new ones. . . . A rare treat for devoted
book lovers.”
—The Boston Globe
“This gorgeous trade edition . . . gives further evidence that
Danielewski is one of the most gifted and versatile writers of our
time.”
—The Washington Post
“[A] captivating atmospheric journey, one that defies the norm of
just reading a book. Danielewski, like his undeniably creepy and
possibly ethereal antagonist, isn’t merely a storyteller. He
creates experiences, multi-dimensional pieces of art that don’t
conform to one genre, and that beg for physical engagement from the
audience. The Fifty Year Sword follows in the tradition of Henry
James’ ‘The Turn Of The Screw’ and the work of Washington Irving,
but in a distinctly postmodern context. It’s a beautifully
haunting, resonant multimedia adventure.”
—The A.V. Club
“A seriously experimental confection of modern horror literature. .
. . Composed mostly of dialogue, some attributed to various
speakers, some not, some near-abstract drawings of needlework
constructions, and a lot of white space—all wrapped in the pages of
a very classy piece of book production—The Fifty Year Sword might
be the oddest book of the year. In certain ways, it might be the
most interesting and enjoyable. . . . I imagine people getting
together late at night and, as they read the book aloud, conjuring
up this East Texas night, in which immediate danger and antique
fairy-tale horror come together, joined by the slender threads of
this one-of-a-kind narrative genius, a writer a lot closer to Edgar
Allan Poe than he is to most of his contemporaries.”
—Alan Cheuse, Dallas Morning News
“Danielewski echoes the oral tradition of ghost stories by
employing the voices of five orphans to take turns narrating. . . .
The writing itself occasionally hits on a detail disturbing enough
to fall like freezing water down the reader’s spine.”
—Time Out New York
“I entered The Fifty Year Sword prepared to be bewildered, but . .
. we’re drawn into the narrative. . . . A goth hero’s quest . . . a
fairy tale narrated by a Greek chorus. . . . Mark Z. Danielewski
might be America’s most successful experimental fiction
writer.”
—Daniel Handler, The New York Times Book Review
“A swift, old-style ghost story with crisp, eerie illustrations.
The text itself becomes blade cuts. The tale’s momentum and dark
tone take over, speeding the story to its surprise end. . . . The
Fifty Year Sword is a pleasure to read.”
—Chicago Tribune
“This strange novella is a new spin on Poe-esque ghost stories, and
is being delivered in its new form full of beautiful (and sometimes
beautifully grotesque) stitched illustrations, the colors of
Halloween's season, and typography that actively follows what
happens within the story. And so The Fifty Year Sword continues
with Mark Z. Danielewski’s explorations of the art of visual
storytelling, and what's on the line when it comes time to tell (or
re-tell) a story.”
—Lit Reactor
“Absorbing, spooky, and playful.”
—Library Journal
“A sometimes arid, sometimes entertaining ghost story for grown-ups
by pomo laureate Danielewski. . . .
Likely destined to become a cult favorite.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“This first American edition of Danielewski’s novella, published in
a different form in the Netherlands in 2005, has the theatrical
quality of a children’s ghost story, complete with stitched-art
illustrations (designed by the author), sweeping themes, and
fairy-tale tropes . . . This would be well-suited to an oral
reading and may be best thought of as an objet d’art that
chillingly holds us accountable for our worst thoughts.”
—Publisher's Weekly
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