Editing House of Leaves (section)

===''The Navidson Record''===
Flouting conventions of [[academic writing]], Zampanò narrates the lives of the Navidson family during the events depicted in ''The Navidson Record'', set in April 1990, including unfilmed events sourced from media and public records. The family are Will Navidson; his unmarried partner, Karen Green, a former [[model (person)|fashion model]]; and their two children, Chad and Daisy.

''The Navidson Record'' is described as the inadvertent product of an autobiographical documentary project: having recently moved into a new home in [[Virginia]], the Navidsons installed cameras throughout the house to capture candid family moments. The family's daily life was soon upended by doors appearing in once-blank walls of their house, opening onto new rooms that extend, impossibly, beyond the house's outside dimensions.

Much of the film is described as footage from several ventures into a dark hallway which appears in the living room. Forbidden by Karen from entering, Navidson delegated exploration to a crew of professional explorers, who found, beyond the hallway, a [[maze]]-like complex containing an enormous [[Stairway#Forms|spiral staircase]] which appears to descend endlessly. In the maze, they recorded footage of a multitude of corridors and rooms, completely unlit and featureless, with smooth ash-gray walls, floors, and ceilings. The maze is said to be silent save for the sound of a periodic low growl, which is never fully explained.

The explorations, already challenged by the maze's inhospitable, vast, and ever-shifting nature, finally led to disaster when one of the crew turned on the rest. After several ordeals, one explorer was killed and another rescued, but the house itself then transformed in a hostile fashion, killing Navidson's brother Tom and forcing the family to frantically escape.

Karen separated from Navidson, departing to New York City with their children. She turned to filmmaking herself to reconcile her relationship with Navidson, while also showing his footage to literary, artistic, and scientific authorities such as [[Stephen King]], [[Stanley Kubrick]], [[Douglas Hofstadter]], [[Ken Burns]], [[Harold Bloom]], [[Camille Paglia]], [[Hunter S. Thompson|Hunter Thompson]], [[Anne Rice]], and [[Jacques Derrida]]. Navidson, still investigating the house, sought explanations from laboratory analysis, only to learn that samples taken from the maze are older than the Earth itself.

Ultimately, Navidson returned to the house alone, leaving only a seemingly incoherent letter for Karen. Despite ample preparation, Navidson became inextricably trapped in the maze. Navidson's camera captured himself attempting to read a book titled ''House of Leaves'' in total darkness; having lost all supplies, he resorted to burning the book page by page to provide light for reading.

Meanwhile, Karen followed Navidson, finding the house now normal and the hallway gone. She resumed living in the house, becoming confident that Navidson can still be found within. One day, the maze reappeared to Karen, and she entered for the first time. She found Navidson emaciated and maimed by frostbite and injury, but they materialized together safely outside the house. The film concludes with Navidson and Karen marrying, and reuniting their family in Vermont.