This kind of stuff was always my issue with most of the genre of ‘post-modern’ or ‘meta-fiction’. It doesn’t seem to have a real respect for traditional fiction itself as a complex medium to explore the human condition, the author being so detached that they can only think to use the medium to describe the human condition within fiction. Essentially creating a novel to do the job of the critic and theorist.

While interesting, it has always struck me as not actually that inventive, as this kind of metacriticism has been part and parcel of writing forever, even Aeacylus would include characters that were essentially cheap shots and criticisms of the state of plays and city life.

That doesn’t mean the portrayal of the medium of something like House of Leaves isn’t interesting, just that it probably isn’t as deep as it has pretense towards being.