Biography of Stephen King

Stephen King, perhaps one of the best writers of the time, was born in Portland, Maine on September 21, 1947.  When King was a toddler his parents divorced, leaving his mother to care for himself and his older brother, David.  His mother worked various jobs in order to support the family, but she eventually ended up working at a facility for the mentally challenged.  The family moved several times, to Fort Wayne, Indiana, Stratford, Connecticut, and then back to Maine in order for King’s mother to take care of her elderly parents.  Despite the hardships within the family, Stephen managed to continue his education to the college level.

In the fall of 1966 King enrolled at the University of Maine at Orono, majoring in English.  Throughout his college career, King participated in the school newspaper by writing weekly columns and he was also involved in student politics, serving as a member on the Student Senate.  Stephen also supported the anti-war movement on campus.  King graduated in the spring of 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in English and was qualified to teach at the high school level.   However, when King’s novel Carrie was published in 1973, he was able to leave teaching and pursue writing full time.

Stephen King has had many literary successes over the last decades.  Some of his most famous literary works are: Carrie, The Shining, Cujo, It, Pet Sematary, and Salem’s Lot.  Many of his literary works have been turned into major motion pictures and smaller works.  King has published over 150 written works over the years, such as short stories, novels, and anthologies.  Though King has written non-fiction works and poems, he is most well-known for writing horror, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy fiction novels and short stories.  

Besides much of his writing style being derived from the horror genre, King is known to write in more of a ‘free’ manner.  Instead of planning what one of his novels will revolve around, he begins with a central idea and lets it branch out as he writes.  Despite this idea however, King believes that “you must not come lightly to the blank page”, you need some kind of emotion or feeling behind your writing (http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Stephen_King).  King also tends to link many of his novels or short stories together by mentioning the same events, characters, or towns within them.  With new novels on the way, there is the possibility that he will continue this.

As of the current date, Stephen King is expected to release two books: 11/22/63, and Discordia Chapter II.  11/22/63 is expected to be released in November of 2011 and Discordia Chapter II currently does not have a set release date.  Besides new releases, there are also two novels that are going to be produced as films or television projects.  His novel The Dark Tower is set to become both a film and television project under NBC Universal and more details about this are expected to be released in May of this year.  The novel Home Delivery (Nightmares & Dreamscapes) is also expected to be released to theaters, but the release date is still unknown.  Though Stephen King has been releasing less novels and short stories as he ages, one thing is for sure: he will never quit writing.

(http://www.stephenking.com/the_author.html)

Discussion Questions for The Shining

In the novel The Shining by Stephen King, the character Jack Torrance is a recovering alcoholic.  As more time passes at the Overlook hotel, Jack’s old habits from his drinking days slowly begin to return.  What does this suggest about Jack?  Why do you believe his old habits have returned?

In the novel, what is the main conflict?  What do you believe could have been done to resolve it?

One of the main themes in The Shining is alcoholism.  Why do you believe that Stephen King would make this the biggest theme of the story?

Critique of The Shining

(http://www.illiterarty.com/reviews/book-review-shining-stephen-king)

                 The Shining by Stephen King is a horror novel at its finest, following the Torrance family during their horrifying stay at the Overlook hotel in Sidewinder, Colorado.  The novel, published in 1977 by Doubleday Publishing Group, went perfectly with the up-and-coming horror genre addiction during the 1970’s.  The Shining however, did not spawn a series of its own, after its release.

                Though the novel is of the horror genre, perhaps the easiest genre of which to predict the plot of a novel, it is full of twists and turns.  There are multiple times during the plotline that the reader feels as if they know what is going to occur, but a completely opposite event occurs; making the novel much more interesting to read.  Stephen King also provides detailed thoughts from every main character in the novel, allowing the reader to really feel and understand where each character is coming from, so to speak.  Background information is also included where needed in the novel, to understand various characters’ psychological states based on previous events in their lifetimes.  For these reasons, I continue to read The Shining over and over again.  However, there are also certain things that could be disliked by readers.

                The most confusing part of the novel is the fact that there will be various thoughts of the main characters placed in the text.  For example, in one part of the novel Jack Torrance had been questioning his sanity and the text reads as: “The question had meant to be rhetorical, but his mind answered it (you call it insanity) nevertheless”.  This can be confusing, when various thoughts are placed in the middle of a sentence, despite it trying to show what a main character is really thinking or feeling.  It requires most readers to go back and read the sentence again in order to understand it, making it quite annoying.  Despite this annoyance, I still believe The Shining is well worth reading.

                I would recommend The Shining by Stephen King to anyone that has interest in the horror genre, whether it be novels or movies.  People that enjoy understanding how psychological problems effect one’s actions or have already seen the movie version of the novel by Stanley Kubrick, I would also highly recommend this novel to.

Summary of The Shining

(http://www.dailyicon.net/2008/10/travel-night-at-the-overlook-hotel-in-kubrick%E2%80%99s-the-shining/)

The Shining written by Stephen King is a horror novel following the Torrance family.  Jack Torrance, a recovering alcoholic, has landed the job as caretaker in the prestigious Overlook hotel in Sidewinder, Colorado as a last chance to provide for his wife and son.  Previously Jack had been fired from his teaching job in Vermont due to his alcoholism, and his marriage had been falling apart at the seams; the Overlook seemed to be the perfect opportunity to put the family back on track.  However, when his son Danny receives terrible premonitions of occurrences at the Overlook, things no longer seem so sweet.  Strange sensations occur at the Overlook due to its’ previous guests that had never left, and the Torrance family is caught in the middle; stuck in the Overlook together until spring thaws through Colorado.