Rocky Wood [Wood - Stephen King: A Literary Companion (McFarland Literary Companions)

Stephen King

MCFARLAND LITERARY COMPANIONS

BY MARY ELLEN SNODGRASS 1. August Wilson (2004)

2. Barbara Kingsolver (2004)

3. Amy Tan (2004)

4. Walter Dean Myers (2006)

5. Kaye Gibbons (2007) 6. Jamaica Kincaid (2008)

8. Peter Carey (2010)

10. Leslie Marmon Silko (2011)

BY PHYLLIS T. DIRCKS

7. Edward Albee (2010)

BY ERIK HAGE

9. Cormac McCarthy (2010)

BY ROCKY WOOD

11. Stephen King (2011)

BY TOM HENTHORNE

12. William Gibson (2011)

Stephen King

A Literary Companion

ROCKY WOOD

McFarland Literary Companions, 11

fk\ 01 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina, and London

ALSO OF INTEREST

Horrors: Great Stories of Fear and Their Creators, written by Rocky Wood; illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne

(a graphic novel; McFarland, 2010)

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Wood, Rocky.

Stephen King : a literary companion / Rocky Wood. p. cm. - (McFarland literary companions, 11) Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7864-5850-9 (softcover : 50# alkaline paper)

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

PS3561.1483Z954 2011 813' .54-dc22 2011005814

British Library cataloguing data are available

2011 Rocky Wood. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Manufactured in the United States of America

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com

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Stephen King is one of the most famous and well read authors of all time. He has created tales we know well, such as The Shining, 'Salem's Lot, The Stand, It and The Dead Zone; some of the best-known fictional characters, such as Jack Torrance, Annie Wilkes, Carrie White and Cujo; and his works have been translated into some of the best-loved movies of all time-The Shawshank Redemption, The Shining, Carrie, and Stand by Me, to name a few. His readers are numbered in the tens of millions, and hundreds of millions more have seen movies based on his tales.

This is a companion to all things King, designed to help fans read and access Stephen King in many different ways. It's written by an unabashed fan (King lovingly calls us his "constant readers"), and written for movie-goers who queue for his latest offering; for comic book fans with standing orders for his adaptations; and for all those who wish they knew just a little bit more about what's behind each scary tale, each mythic character, each obscure small Maine town. King fans are a breed apart and this is their own private, secret, window into the King-dom. Hopefully there will be something in the pages that follow to surprise or inform even the most ardent Stephen King fan, from information about King's more obscure tales to little-known details about his books and characters.

The material is presented in two parts. An introduction to the works covers the broad sweep of Stephen King, his world and his work; the literary companion that follows allows the reader to delve into stories, characters, his many imaginary worlds and universes, themes, genres and adaptations. One note - this is not a biography, although many of the autobiographical aspects of King's work are included. This is a book about the stories, the characters and the worlds King has created and how they impact readers.

The Introduction also deals with some approaches to reading King and particularly considers the parts of King's body of work readers may have neglected to date, as well as ways to introduce others, such as young adults, to his tales. Next is a look at the linked worlds and stories King continues to deliberately create - his version of Maine, particularly Castle Rock and Derry; the peculiarly parallel world of The Dark Tower; and postapocalyptic worlds, such as America after the super flu epidemic of The Stand.

Then follows a look at the silver screen and television adaptations of King's stories- many a King fan has never read his books but love the visual telling of the tale as much as hard-core readers love the written version. We'll explore their impact upon moviego ers and mainstream culture, and offer some advice on what movies to see, when to see them and why they merit one's attention.

While critical acceptance has been hard for King to garner in some circles, due to a judgmental predisposition to dismiss his work as "popular" writing and a bias against horror writing in general, in recent years King's work has been viewed in a more positive light by many critics and scholars. Some rate King along with such greats as Shakespeare, Dickens, Twain, Stevenson, Poe and Lovecraft, and a review of the importance of these seminal writers in relation to King will place his body of work in some context when considered alongside the fiction of past masters. The introductory section concludes with a look at what King himself describes as his magnum opus, his Dark Tower series of novels and short stories, as well as obscure references to the series in other tales.

The literary lompanion provides easy access to a myriad of interesting King material; presented in an encyclopedic, alphabetical arrangement. Included is an entry for each of King's fictional works, from novels to short stories and poetry. As an example, the entry for Carrie gives background about the novel's inspiration, when and how it was published, and sets the tale up for the reader to enjoy more thoroughly. What it does not do is spoil the story, yet it provides plenty of interesting background to ensure the reader is privy to more than a few secrets.

Other entries cover King's unpublished or uncollected fiction, outlining the stories and giving advice on how to find them; major characters, such as Carrie White (Carrie), John Coffey (The Green Mile), Roland Deschain (The Dark Tower), and even the infamous St. Bernard, Cujo; the key locations in King's universe, which have detailed entries, as do towns such as Jerusalem's Lot. Also included are entries on film, comic book and stage adaptations, with information specific to each while of interest relative to the whole of King's work.

The literary companion also features an abundance of fascinating facts and tidbits. Readers can focus on their particular interest, or use the information within to better understand a book or character, before, during or even after reading the relevant story or seeing the film. And that's really the purpose of the present work-to make the experience of exploring Stephen King's work, whatever the format, that much more enjoyable and interesting. Who inspired the character Carrie White? Where was the original Marsten House (of 'Salem's Lot infamy)? On what famous book does King base Bag of Bones? What happened to The Cannibals, a book King wrote in the 1980s? Why does King bring back characters decades after their original appearances? And of course, what exactly is the secret to King's constant connection with his fans? All of this and more will be discussed within. With that, let's dive in the deep end of Runaround Pond (if you don't know it, see the entry) and the worlds and works of Stephen King.