Authorship in House of Leaves

I'm exactly 91 pages into House of Leaves. In relation to this course, I'm especially interested in how the book contains several layers of authors--Zampano, the author of the manuscript on The Navidson Record, Johnny Truant as he comments on Zampano's text and adds details about his own life, and Navidson, the videographer (that is, if he ever actually existed). It's also interesting that there is an appendix in the back that gives even further insight into these fictitious authors' lives (i.e. bits and pieces from Zampano's other writings, letters from Johnny Truant's mother, etc). The book is very complex and somewhat hard to keep up with at times, since Johnny's own stories often diverge from the plot of Zampano's manuscript. Still, it's interesting, and it's nice to be reading a novel, since the material for all my other classes is pretty much just history and theory.

Also interesting: Johnny adds a word to Zampano's text in order to facilitate his own storytelling ("water" in front of "heater"). He later confesses that he inserted this word for his own convenience. ("Hey, not fair, you cry... Hey, hey, fuck you, I say.") This passage (see page 16) seems to acknowledge the reader's craving for authenticity and the power that Johnny possesses as he presents this text--he pretty much becomes a co-author.

But his attitude changes later on, when he finds himself unable to alter Zampano's words (see page 31). "Easily that whole bit...could have been cut. You wouldn't have noticed the absence. I probably wouldn't of either. But that doesn't change the fact that I can't do it...Nothing else remains of him [Zampano] but this." Johnny Truant recognizes the death of this particular author and decides to preserve his text, however useless, in an effort to make one part of him live on.