Stephen King: life and work of the master of terror
He is known as "the undisputed master of terror." And it is not for less: with 300 million copies sold worldwide, Stephen King is probably one of the most famous contemporary writers and that has had the greatest impact on popular culture in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Influenced by classics of the genre such as Poe or Lovecraft, this greatest hits author began his brilliant work in the early 1970s; And to this day, he doesn't seem like he intends to stop. While it is true that it would not be fair to attempt an in-depth analysis of all of his work in a few paragraphs, this writing It is proposed to expose the keys and singularities that allow us to understand what the reader who immerses himself in the pages of the King universe will encounter.
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Stephen King and the secrets of terror
Through more than 50 books, including horror, fantasy and science fiction novels; short stories, a literary saga, and nonfiction novels, Stephen King explores how primal fears, childhood trauma, and childhood Obsessions penetrate the human psyche, leaving an incurable scar on its protagonists, poisoning their minds and conditioning their future existence.
As the writer said: "the key to terror is that it activates certain phobic pressure points that are common to all" That is where his genius lies; and it is that Stephen King knows how to connect the reader in one way or another with that which instills terror. After all, we all have a series of fears that make us feel heart and sleep: some are common in the collective unconscious (fear of death would be quite illustrative), others are more concrete (fear of snakes, to the clowns, to the darkness…), While many are born from childhood experiences.
We must mention the importance that King gives to the latter, because in several of his most famous titles (such as It, The Mystery of Salem's Lot or The Dreamcatcher), one or more of the main subjects are haunted by the dark memory of an event that took place in their childhood and who they will have to face to defeat their personal demons.
Decisive autobiographical facts in his work
If Stephen King is characterized by something, it is by staining his narratives with autobiographical dyes. It is not strange to find that authors from various disciplines in the art world use his creations to refer in one way or another, and this case was not going to be different.
A common denominator throughout his career has been having the protagonists of famous novels (El Resplandor, El Mystery of Salem's Lot, IT, Misery, or A Bag of Bones, among many others), probably as a wink or tribute to his career.
A hotel room to inspire
After his first best-seller of his (Carrie, 1974), King was already a well-known and famous author. Despite being an expert in instilling terror through his novels, he also had his own ghosts. Plagued by so-called "writer's block," he tried to get away from the deafening noise of the city at a half-uninhabited hotel in the Rocky Mountains., in an attempt to regain lost inspiration.
Without knowing it, it turned out that in the room in which he was staying (217), the former owner of the hotel had died short-circuited in 1911. On the other hand, several guests had complained to the hotel staff that at night someone was banging on the door and, when they opened, there was nothing but silence and the corridor deserted.
These and other phenomena that apparently took place served as the basis for the well-known El Shining (1977), probably one of his works in which he establishes the most parallels with his life real. It is no coincidence then, that the plot revolves around Jack Torrance, a father of a family who has moved with his wife and son to live in a hotel in the mountains of Colorado to take care of maintenance during the harsh winter, while he hopes to finish his last novel; Nor that all kinds of inexplicable events happen in that hotel that have to do with a specific room: 217.
The double edge of success and fame
Another of King's fears were the fans, or rather the way in which his work could influence the public for better or for worse. On one occasion, during a book signing, a young man approached King with a copy to dedicate to him and said, "I am your number one fan." Those words were decisive for one of his most renowned titles: Misery (1987). In it, novelist Paul Sheldon, following a car accident, ends up bedridden in a cabin lost in the snowy mountains.
Unfortunately for him, the nurse who has rescued him and takes care of him is also a fervent follower of the heroine who is the protagonist of his books; so the way in which the writer has decided to finish the last volume of it will not be taken too well ...
Run over
A third event that marked a turning point in his work occurred in 1999. While walking along the ditch of a county road, he was hit by a van and was thrown several meters from the scene. Paradoxically, at that time he was writing Buick 8, a wicked car, which, after making a few notes, would be published in 2001.
This novel tells how the son of a sheriff who died in the line of duty tries to uncover the mystery surrounding an old car that has been parked for years in a warehouse under police custody; while he tries to find out if the death of his father has some kind of link with the vehicle. Later novels are also based on this defining moment in Stephen King's life (Duma Key, 2008).
Anecdotes and curiosities
There are many events that have occurred during Stephen King's journey as a writer. Not surprisingly, the success achieved began in the seventies and has lasted to this day. Let's see which have been the most decisive and the most striking.
1. Trash papers
During Carrie's writing process, Stephen King he was so unconvinced that he was going to succeed that he threw the draft in the trash. His wife, when he was not at home, retrieved it, read in secret, and urged him to take it to her editor. The rest, as they say, is history.
2. Autograph
The young man who asked for an autograph and whose words served as the foundation for Misery (1987), was Mark David Chapman, infamous for murdering John Lennon.
3. The Shining and Stanley Kubrick
Many of his books have been transferred with greater or lesser success to the world of cinema.. One of the most illustrious is Stanley Kubrick's version of The Shining (1980). This timeless classic of the seventh art, however, Stephen King has never liked, since it is far from the written version of it.
4. Repressed hatred
Rabia (1977) is the title of an unpublished novel in his bibliography. The reason? It tells how a high school student murders several teachers and classmates due to the repressed hatred that he feels. Sadly, it bears certain parallels with massacres that occurred later, such as those at San Gabriel High School (California, 1988) or Jackson County High School (Kentucky, 1989). Stephen King himself had to ask for the immediate withdrawal of all copies and issued a press release asking for forgiveness.
5. Fear of clowns
Coulrophobia is the insurmountable fear of clowns. Several investigations have tried to find out where the origin of this phobia is located and have found that many cases date back to 1986, curiously the year of publication of the best seller IT. IT recounts how every 27 years, in a town in the state of Maine, several neighboring children are murdered. A small group of survivors must face horror again if they want to end the evil that lives there, an evil that takes the form of a good-natured clown ...
6. Clues that connect their works
Except for the books in the Dark Tower collection, the rest of the stories are independent. However, Stephen King takes the opportunity to leave us clues that connect them between them. In IT (1986), there are references to Christine (1983) and the Dark Tower saga; the latter also mentioned in The Dance of Death / Apocalypse (1979). If we read Tommyknockers (1988) or The Dreamcatcher (2003), we will find allusions to IT... What more winks to the astute reader has Stephen King deposited throughout his work?
7. Against all odds
After tortuous beginnings - a past marked by financial hardship, depression and alcohol abuse - Stephen King managed to rise to the top as the great literary myth that he is today. In case he didn't have enough difficulties with his personal problems, he also had to face the critics of the time, who considered horror novels to be second-rate.
Fortunately, the public was unanimous and, despite everything, managed to gain a foothold in the bestseller lists to position himself as number one worldwide on several occasions.
Without a doubt, a novelist whose work is worth discovering in depth.