Strengell - Dissecting Stephen King : from the Gothic to literary naturalism

Strengell, Heidi

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Heidi Strengell

FROM THE GOTHIC TO LITERARY NATURALISM

Nunc Cognosco Ex Parte

S I T Y

Thomas J. Bata Library

PRESENTED IN MEMORY OF

EDWIN WILLIAM CURTIN &

IRENE ELIZABETH CURTIN

TRENT

^ UNIVER

Series Editors

Ray B. Browne and Pat Browne

From the Gothic to Literary Naturalism

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PETERBOROUGH, ONTARIO

THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS POPULAR PRESS

The University of Wisconsin Press 1930 Monroe Street Madison, Wisconsin 53711

www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/

3 Henrietta Street London WC2E 8LU, England

Copyright 2005 Heidi Strengell All rights reserved

5 4 3 2

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Strengell, Heidi.

Dissecting Stephen King : from the Gothic to literary naturalism / Heidi Strengell. p. cm.

A Ray and Pat Browne book."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-299-20970-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)

ISBN 0-299-20974-1 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. King, Stephen, 1947- Criticism and interpretation.

2. Horror tales, AmericanHistory and criticism.

3. Gothic revival (Literature)United States.

4. Naturalism in literature. I. Title.

PS3561.I483Z885 2005

813'.54dc22 2004025717

For

HEIKKI, JUHO, and JUHANA

I believe that we are all ultimately alone and that any deep and lasting human contact is nothing more nor less than a necessary illusionbut at least the feelings which we think of as "positive" and "constructive" are a reaching out, an effort to make contact and establish some sort of communication. Feelings of love and kindness, the ability to care and empathize, are all we know of light. They are efforts to link and integrate; they are the emotions which bring us closer together, if not in fact then at least in a comforting illusion that makes the burden of mortality a little easier to bear.

Stephen King, Danse Macabre

Abbreviations ix

Introduction 3

King, His World, and Its Characters 7

Interpreter of the Postmodern Condition 17

King's Brand of Horror 22

1. The Gothic in King's Works 28

Abnormal and Repressed Sexuality (the Vampire) 33

Hubris and Death (Frankenstein's Monster) 33

The Gothic Double (the Werewolf) 68

The Gothic Melodrama (the Ghost) 86

2. Myths and Fairy Tales in King's Works 108

The Hero as a Generic Hybrid (Roland the Gunslinger) 117 The Antihero as a Generic Hybrid (Randall Flagg) 136

Adapted and Revised Myths and Fairy Tales 156

Mythical and Fairy-Tale Themes 168

vii

In the course of this study. King's works are abbreviated as follows. The list does not include his individually published short stories or e-published works.

Table caption X

Abbreviations