''The Fifty Year Sword'' is a

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

by Mark Z. Danielewski.

Synopsis

Chintana, a seamstress in East Texas, finds herself responsible for five orphans who are not only captivated by a storyteller’s tale of vengeance but by the long black box he sets before them. As midnight approaches, the box is opened, a fateful dare is made, and the children as well as Chintana come face to face with the consequences of a malice retold and now foretold. Much like Danielewski's previous works, ''The Fifty Year Sword'' uses unusual formatting and color throughout. Five different colors are used for quotation marks in order to signal which character is speaking.

Publication history

''The Fifty Year Sword'' was published in both Dutch and English by publisher

De Bezige Bij De Bezige Bij ("the busy bee") is one of the most important literary publishing companies in the Netherlands. History The company was founded illegally in 1943, during the German occupation of the Netherlands by ; its first publication was a poem ...

, but only 1,000 first edition English copies were released. 51 of those copies are signed in marker with a "Z" (varying in color and number to coincide with the 5 colored quotation marks that signify different speakers in the text), while the first copy is signed "Mark Danielewski" in ink. A second English edition of 1,000 was released in October 2006, while a slightly revised trade edition was published by Pantheon in October 2012.

Live performance

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

night between 2010 and 2012, Danielewski conducted a live performance of ''The Fifty Year Sword'' at the

REDCAT Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT) is an interdisciplinary contemporary arts center for innovative visual, performing and media arts in downtown Los Angeles, located inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. Opened in November 2003 ...

theater in

Walt Disney Concert Hall The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It was opened on October 24, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Ave ...

. The performances featured five voices and large-scale shadows by shadowcaster Christine Marie.The Fifty Year Sword

Website. August 2011.

References

External links

Exploration Z
- links to interviews, reviews and book scans 2005 American novels American novellas Novels by Mark Z. Danielewski Postmodern novels De Bezige Bij books {{postmodern-novel-stub