Theorizing Stephen King

Readers of all stripes will find something to appreciate in this collection, which illuminates how King’s horror literature as a media form has shifted in relation to cultural understandings over time. Many chapters touch upon how surrounding texts, such as film/TV adaptations, have played into these mediations throughout King’s storied career. For the first-time reader of King, this volume offers a doorway into his works: an array of exciting critical frameworks with which to make sense of King’s fictional universe. For literary critics, this volume argues that King’s corpus remains a site for robust intellectual inquiry. And for all of us, the book provides an occasion—one that is long overdue—to rethink King’s relationship to critical theory as well as his legacy as a major American author. While it may prove impossible to reconcile King and the academy, we might nonetheless explore the evolution of their inescapable bond in hopes of negotiating a greater understanding between them.

Readers of all stripes will find something to appreciate in this collection, which illuminates how King’s horror literature as a media form has shifted in relation to cultural understandings over time. Many chapters touch upon how surrounding texts, such as film/TV adaptations, have played into these mediations throughout King’s storied career. For the first-time reader of King, this volume offers a doorway into his works: an array of exciting critical frameworks with which to make sense of King’s fictional universe. For literary critics, this volume argues that King’s corpus remains a site for robust intellectual inquiry. And for all of us, the book provides an occasion—one that is long overdue—to rethink King’s relationship to critical theory as well as his legacy as a major American author. While it may prove impossible to reconcile King and the academy, we might nonetheless explore the evolution of their inescapable bond in hopes of negotiating a greater understanding between them.