House of Leaves Timeline
This is also in episode 99, which I am recording...right now. But I thought it might be nice to have a visual at the same time/just before/what have you. This takes you up to the inclusion of the Pelican Poems--so it's all of the events so far in the main novel, all of Pelafina's letters (including the extra eleven in The Whalestoe Letters), and all of the Pelican Poems. Interesting things revealed by determined list makers. Enjoy my own cybertext, and excuse the pseudo-pun. I hope this helps your enjoyment of the podcast and of the novel's universe. Notice what's there as well as what's missing.
1720: Ash Tree Lane is quote unquote “supposedly” built in this year, according to the realtor
1981: again, according to the realtor, a family wanted to build an ell extension, then moved out because they want something much smaller
(June 21: Johnny’s birthday)
July, 1981: Johnny’s father died in a truck accident
July 28, 1982: Johnny’s mother’s (Pelafina) first letter from Three Attic Whalestoe Institute to Johnny
August 30, 1982: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
November 7, 1982: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
January 20, 1983: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
February 14, 1983: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
March 9, 1983: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
April 17, 1983: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
May 9, 1983: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
June 21, 1983: letter from Pelafina to Johnny—Johnny’s birthday
August 19, 1983: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
September 29, 1983: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
October 15, 1983: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
December 24, 1983: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
March 15, 1984: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
April 22, 1984: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
(June 21: Johnny’s birthday)
June 3, 1984: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
June 26, 1984: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
September 7, 1984: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
October 14, 1984: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
November 6, 1984: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
March 7, 1985: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
April 13, 1985: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
May 11, 1985: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
(June 21: Johnny’s birthday)
July 24, 1985: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
August 23, 1985: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
September 5, 1985: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
September 14, 1985: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
September 19, 1985: letter from Pelafina to Johnny—the checkmark request
September 30, 1985: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
October 4, 1985: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
October 10, 1985: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
October 12, 1985: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
November 1, 1985: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
November 9, 1985: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
March 17, 1986: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
April 5, 1986: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
May 31, 1986: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
(June 21: Johnny’s birthday)
July 6, 1986: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
September 18, 1986: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
December 6, 1986: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
January 6, 1987: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
April 25, 1987: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
April 27, 1987 letter from Pelafina to Johnny heralding the upcoming letter that will be in code
May 8, 1987 letter in code from Pelafina to Johnny
(June 21: Johnny’s birthday)
June 23, 1987: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
July 31, 1987: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
August 13, 1987: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
September 24, 1987: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
December 26, 1987: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
January 3, 1988: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
January 11, 1988: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
February 14, 1988: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
February 23, 1988: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
March 18, 1988: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
March 19, 1988: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
April 12, 1988: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
May 26, 1988: first Pelican poem (mentions time, blue, and Prospero)
(June 21: Johnny’s birthday)
July 6, 1988: Pelican poem: father and brother
July 7, 1988: Pelican poem: Eurydice, madness, time
July 7, 1998: Pelican poem: Pelican’s pen, sounds like a word game or a spell
July 8, 1988: Pelican poem: “this blind man”
July 8, 1988: Pelican poem: “high sea wall”
July 9, 1988: Pelican poem: “One is one”
July 10, 1988: Pelican poem: pattern and notes: music and architecture? Promotory
July 10, 1988 Pelican poem: storm
July 11, 1988: Pelican poem: This is the way the world ends
July 20, 1988: Pelican poem: disabled cardboard box and a heart
July 22, 1988: Pelican poem: music associated with colors
July 25, 1988: Pelican poem: Waterloo, Lion, blindness
July 26, 1988: Pelican poem: written on a melon
July 26, 1988: Pelican poem: “He needs to eat”
July 26, 1988: tapestry, getting lost (out of order, after August 11 fragmentation poem)
August 1, 1988: Pelican poem: tree (out of order, after August 11 fragmentation poem)
August 2, 1988: Pelican poem: “elegant ambivalence”
August 7, 1988: Pelican poem: “grammatical metempsychosis”
August 11, 1988: Pelican poem: Waterloo
August 11, 1988: Pelican poem: fragmentation
August 12, 1988: Pelican poem: “I’d like to return one day if only for a little while to drink something warm.” —hot chocolate after the return (out of order—after September 2 boundaries poem)
August 14, 1988: Pelican poem: “the irregularity of wine and doors in constructed mythologies”
August 15, 1988: Pelican poem: fashion and colors
August 20, 1988: Pelican poem: music and wine
August 23, 1988: Pelican poem: father and brother
August 23, 1988: Pelican poem: brother—Jacob
August 23, 1988: Pelican poem: being lost
August 25, 1988: Pelican poem: “can’t see can’t hear can’t find”
August 28, 1988: Pelican poem: wandering, color
August 28, 1988: Pelican poem: deciphering
August 31, 1988: Pelican poem: “The rumination are mine. Let the world be yours. For no one.”
September 2, 1988: Pelican poem: boundaries
September 19, 1988 letter to Johnny: the repetition of his name and list of words letter
November 1, 1988: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
November 3, 1988: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
November 27, 1988: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
December 23, 1988: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
December 24, 1988: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
January 12, 1989: Doctor wrote letter to Johnny warning that mother was on final decline
February 28, 1989: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
March 31, 1989: letter from Pelafina to Johnny
May 3, 1989: Pelafina’s last letter to Johnny
May 4, 1989: Pelafina’s suicide
May 5, 1989: letter from Whalestoe’s director notifying Johnny of Pelafina’s death
(June 21: Johnny’s birthday)
September, 1989: Johnny retrieved one piece of jewelry of Pelefina’s from Whalestoe Institute
April, 1990: Navy begins recording documentary videotapes of his family and his house—the beginning of his documentary project
June, 1990: the date of the two exploration VHS tapes
(June 21: Johnny’s birthday)
1993: Miramax purchased the two exploration videotapes and all of Navidson’s documentary tapes, compiled them, and put them out as the movie The Navidson Record
Same year: The Three Attic Whalestoe Institute closed
(June 21: Johnny’s birthday)
October 31, 1998: Johnny’s introduction to the Navidson Record—he found it in Zampanó’s apartment
(June 21: Johnny’s birthday)
August 6, 2000: the date of Walden D. Wyrhta’s compilation of and introduction to Pelafina’s letters, with 11 extra letters included
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