The Linguistics of Stephen King: Layered Language and Meaning in the Fiction

by James Arthur Anderson

Overview

Stephen King, "America's Favorite Boogeyman," has sold over 350 million copies of his books, becoming in effect the face of horror fiction. His influence on popular culture has drawn both strong praise and harsh criticism from reviewers and scholars alike. While his popularity cannot be overstated, his work has received relatively little critical attention from the academic world.

Examining King's fiction using modern literary theory, this study reveals the unexpected complexity of 22 short stories and novels, from Carrie to End of Watch. The author finds King using fantasy and horror to expose truths about reality and the human condition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476629520
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	06/19/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	252
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

James Arthur Anderson is a professor emeritus at Johnson & Wales University, where he taught writing, literature, and science fiction until his retirement in 2021. He has published book-length critical studies on H.P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury and Stephen King, and received The Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship for Nonfiction from the Horror Writers Association in 2016.
James Arthur Anderson is a professor at Johnson & Wales University's North Miami Florida campus where he teaches writing, literature, and science fiction. He has published book-length critical studies on H.P. Lovecraft and Ray Bradbury, and received The Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship for Nonfiction from the Horror Writers Association in 2016.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
 1. Carrie: The Truth Within the Lie
 2. ’Salem’s Lot: The Word Gives Being
 3. “The Word Processor of the Gods”: The Writer Creates the World
 4. The Shining: The Sleep of Reason
 5. Pet Sematary: The Spoken Secret
 6. Misery: The Death of the Author
 7. The Dark Half: The Duplicity of Language
 8. “Secret Window, Secret Garden”: The Writer’s Secrets
 9. “The Body”: Portrait of the Artist
10. “The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet” and “Dedication”: Nature, Nurture and the Writer’s Psyche
11. The Running Man: Simulacra and Simulation
12. IT: The Unnamable Horror
13. Needful Things: The Linguistics of Brand Names
14. The Green Mile: Remembrance of Things Past
15. Bag of Bones: King’s Horror Matures
16. Cell: The Metalinguistics of Technology
17. Lisey’s Story: Private Language
18. “Ur”: Textual Reality
19.  “1922” and “A Good Marriage”: The Secret Collection
20. Joyland: Linguistic Registers
21. Revival: Cosmic Horror
22. End of Watch: To Be or Not to Be
Conclusion
Works Cited
Index

Editorial Reviews

impressively informative, thought-provoking, and inherently fascinating...critically important...highly recommended”—Midwest Book Review; “employs concepts of modern literary theory to analyze the work of American horror writer Stephen King. Written from a scholarly perspective, the book is accessible to devoted fans”—ProtoView.

From the Publisher