The Fifty Year Sword

The Fifty Year Sword

Infobox Book
name = The Fifty Year Sword
title_orig = Het Vijftig Jaars Zwaard
translator =


author = Mark Z. Danielewski
cover_artist = Peter van Sambeek
country = Netherlands
language = Dutch, English
series =
subject =
genre = Short stories
publisher = De Bezige Bij
release_date = 31 October 2005
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages = 100
size_weight = 33 x 17 cm, 1 lb.
isbn = ISBN 90-234-1856-5 (orig. Dutch)
& ISBN 90-234-1877-8 (Eng. trans.)
preceded_by = The Whalestoe Letters
followed_by = Only Revolutions

"The Fifty Year Sword" is a novella written by Mark Z. Danielewski. Only 1,000 first edition English books were released. 51 of those copies are signed in marker with a "Z" (varying in colour and number to coincide with the 5 coloured 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. In a recent interview, Danielewski announced that there are currently plans for a future US printing."The Fifty Year Sword" uses strange formatting and colors throughout the book, much like Danielewski's previous work, "House of Leaves". However, unlike "House of Leaves" which only contained three colors (blue, red, and purple), "The Fifty Year Sword" contains 5 colors which are used on quotation marks. The colors indicate which of 5 characters is speaking at the moment, according to the introduction of the book.

Plot summary

The story takes place at a woman's birthday party in a foster home. A storyteller is invited by the social worker to entertain the orphans. He brings with him a long, black box. The storyteller entertains the orphans by explaining his adventures of getting what's inside the box. He went to a person who makes special swords, and he left with T50YS [The Fifty Year Sword] . He then opens the box, revealing a seemingly bladeless sword, and he waves it in the air at the candles. The woman, for whom the 50th birthday party is, gets annoyed at the storyteller and tells the children it really is just a sword handle with no blade. She takes T50YS, waves it around at herself, and leaves to go outside. At midnight on her 50th birthday, she dies.

External links

* [http://markzdanielewski.info/t50ys.html Exploration Z] - links to interviews, reviews, and some book scans


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