Danielewski's book is presented to us as the second edition that has been compiled by Johnny, but professionally edited. This idea of an absence or removal of authorship is something that was also found in Warhol's work. When discussing Warhol's films, David James claims that "Warhol delegated more and more responsibility until . . . he was no more than a name attached to a product. [Warhol's] erasure of authorship [was] his most characteristic authorial gesture."" Warhol's practice of having his friends reproduce his artwork brought the term "originality- into question, and Danielewski goes even further than that. In Roland Barthes' essay, "The Death of the Author-, Barthes questions the primacy and control that the author has over the text; without placing undue importance on the author, the reader has more control and responsibility for a textual construction of meaning. By removing the author, the text becomes a signifier instead of a signified, which makes House of Leaves more interesting, thought provoking and "if we subscribe to Ihab Hassan's binary list of the differences between postmodernism and modernism "postmodern. .
The question of reality is one that much postmodern literature deals with. Zampano's writings begin by telling us how Will Navidson moves to the country with his family in an effort to settle down, and he is granted a Guggenheim Fellowship and the New Media Arts Grant to create a documentary about the process of a family settling into a new house. Things at the Navidson house are going along fine for a long time. Then, the Navidsons come back from a trip and instinctively feel that the house has changed. "The change was enormous. It was not, however, obvious "like for instance a fire, a robbery, or an act of vandalism. Quite the contrary, the horror was atypical. No one could deny that there had been an intrusion, but it was so odd no one knew how to respond .
