Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Main on September 21st, of 1947 and grew up with separated parents, moving from place to place until settling permanently in Durham, Maine. King became inspired to write at a young age when he found a collection of his father’s short stories, The Lurker in the Shadows, and began writing in school. His first published story, “I Was a Teenage Grave Robber” won him the Scholastic Art and Writing Award. King attended the University of Maine at Orono and wrote weekly columns for the school newspaper as well as participated in student politics and the anti-war movement.
With a diploma in English and the qualifications of teaching, King could not find education work immediately due to high blood pressure, limited vision, and punctured eardrums. With his new wife, Tabitha, King worked as a laborer at an industrial laundry to make ends meet, as well as selling his short stories to men’s magazines. In the year 1971, King was finally able to start teaching at Hampden Academy in Maine.
During this time, King continued writing short stories, and developed a drinking problem, which influenced the characters in his later novels. His first famous novel Carrie and Salem’s Lot became a large success and enabled King to become a full time writer. In 1974, the Kings moved to Boulder, Colorado where he started writing novels such as The Shining with the inspiration from The Stanley Hotel, where many connections can be made from his real life into the novel. He wrote many other famous novels such as IT and The Mist, which were both made into critically acclaimed films. Stephen King’s writings have stapled him as one of the best horror and science-fiction writers with 236 award nominations, resulting in winning 99 of these, such as The Goodreads Choice Awards, Bram Stoker Awards, American Library Association, and Hugo Awards.
127 our experts are availableright now
Even though Most of Stephen King’s books have become international best sellers, and many movies have been produced of his writings, King is still not even considered a spot in the American Literary Canon. Many critics argue it is because he has become too commercially successful, and it does not equal to literary value. His writings still do hold the literary essence that many readers can enjoy, without having to watch the movies instead. Many of Stephen King’s writings come from the influence of inducted Canon Writers such as Poe, Shirley Jackson, and Hawthorn.
With many classics, it is hard to determine Stephen King’s best work, but The Shining is a representation of a piece of great American literature. King’s novel holds the story of Jack Torrance, and his wife and son, where he has been hired as the winter caretaker of the overlook hotel in order to provide for his family and overcome rage and alcoholism. Isolated due to the winter, the darkness of the hotel begin to show and evil forces overcome Jack and turn him into a maniac, ready to kill his family.
The Torrance family is definitely not the perfect family, and being isolated in the mountains shows the spotlight of how dysfunctional the family really is. King brought the idea of a dysfunctional family and turned it into something truly disturbing. The use of real family fears and instability brought these characters to life with the ideas of alcoholism, providing for their families, and abuse. People, throughout hundreds of years could relate to this theme. Studying these themes in the future is very plausible, making a great candidate to be included in the American Literary Canon. Another writing, “A Good Man is Hard to find,” by Flannery O’ Connor is in the canon and does explore the theme of family as well. Comparing these two writings, a reader can understand the importance of family, and what can happen if there are broken shards between them.
Many authors repeat lines in their writings to bring emphasis to certain themes. In The Shining, the most repeated line in variations is, “Now. Now by Christ. I guess you’ll take your medicine now. Goddamn puppy. Whelp. Come on and take your medicine” (King 26.14). The quote is rooted to the father, Jack Torrance from when his father would beat his mother with his cane. Jack used that saying as he was trying to find his son, ready to bash his head in with a mallet.
King uses parental and marital relationships and twists them into a horrific image many families could see themselves becoming vulnerable to, making this novel even more so scary. On the main level of the hotel, Jack is attacked by demons to cause harm to his family, but looking further into the hotel, the reader can see the guilt and sadness of his broken family that he is overtaken due to his own regrets. Stephen King’s novel shows the inner horror in everyone, and how families can be distorted by madness.
References
- Stephen King Official Website
- Stephen King Biography – Biography.com
- Stephen King – Wikipedia
- Stephen King – Goodreads
- Articles about Stephen King – The New York Times
- Stephen King – The Guardian
- News about Stephen King – BBC News
- 10 Little-Known Facts about Stephen King – MentalFloss
- Articles about Stephen King – Time Magazine
