The late twentieth century was an age that saw the breakdown of many traditional systems of religious and secular belief and a consequent growth in personal freedom. However, this collapse merely shifted authority away from the discourses of religion and morality and placed the onus upon the individual to arrive at his or her own interpretation of contemporary socio-political events. It also coincided with an increase in reported cases of mental instability. House of Leaves links these issues through its central image of a dark, infinite, and ultimately unknowable house, and could be said to offer a solution to them which is based upon a knowledge of the self and complete trust in the other. However, the path to such knowledge is, as Navidson, Karen and Truant learn, a hazardous one.

1. Does the novel's use of horror hinder the social comment it attempts to make?

Why...