Abstract
Narrative experimentation has seen many forms, but among the most radical strategies might be the complete absence of text. Printed text is largely determined through its physical presence on the page, it defines itself by where it is, and the performance of the present text determines the flow of narrative time. Silences and absences are usually created semantically, with a present text telling about an absence. Only rarely do texts stage emptiness through the actual absence of text. But when they do, they considerably expand the narrative range of expression of the printed page. In this paper I will look at the narratology of the empty page by analyzing and comparing a number of texts that stage or emphasize the actual absence of text from the page. There are some narrative texts that use their medial form as text printed on a page and bound in a codex not only to narrate absences, but also to stage them outside of the text proper, or rather, through the actual absence of text leading the recipient’s awareness to the page as a frame of reference that potentially carries semantic value. I will contrast different techniques of “framing absence” in texts by David Mitchell (number9dream), Jonathan Safran Foer (Tree of codes), B. S. Johnson (House mother normal) and Mark Z. Danielewski (House of leaves). These examples will show how literary texts can use their own mediality and materiality to reflect on the general relation between all three.
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