Option #1) Find a very confusing passage in House of Leaves - not a slightly difficult one, but one that drives you up a wall. Hopefully that won't be too hard! Then, briefly explain both:
a) What that passage seems to mean, or at least one possible explanation of it. If you're highly confident in your explanation, your passage is probably too easy (or you did some substantial research).
b) What that difficulty accomplishes; in other words, you should explain what the difficulty itself (think form, not content) is for.
Optionally, you might make use of Marcuse (although it's possible to use him in other prompts as well).
Option #2) Discuss some element of the form of Jimmy Corrigan in relationship to some element of the form of House of Leaves. You should discover at least a tentative argument, and refer to a specific passage/panel/page from each book.
Option #3) Carefully read, re-read, and re-re-read the material on page 42, particularly footnotes 49 & 50. Then find and read Jorge Borges' short story "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote." Having read it, present an argument concerning with Danielewski's use of the story means.
Option #4) Find and purchase "Haunted," an album released by Danielewski's sister, whose stage name is Poe. Here's the itunes link and the Amazon link. The albums operates, on one level, as a kind of soundtrack for the book. After listening carefully, present an argument re: how some particular part of the reading assignment could be interpreted differently through the album, or vice versa. When writing about music, try to deal with music as such and not just with the lyrics.
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