Stephen King’s Modern Macabre ALSOBYPATRICKMCALEER The Writing Family of Stephen King: A Critical Study of the Fiction of Tabitha King, Joe Hill and Owen King (McFarland, 2011) Inside the Dark TowerSeries: Art, Evil and Intertextuality in the Stephen King Novels (McFarland, 2009) Stephen King’s Modern Macabre Essays on the Later Works Edited by PATRICK MCALEER and MICHAEL A. PERRY McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA Stephen King’s modern macabre : essays on the later works / edited by Patrick McAleer and Michael A. Perry. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ♾ ISBN 978-0-7864-9400-2 (softcover : acid free paper) ISBN 978-1-4766-1745-9 (ebook) 1. King, Stephen, 1947– —Criticism and interpretation. I. McAleer, Patrick, 1980– editor. II. Perry, Michael A., 1973– PS3561.I483Z884 2014 813'.54—dc23 2014023733 BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE © 2014 Patrick McAleer and Michael A. Perry. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. On the cover: The White Commands You, an interior illustration for The Dark Tower© Michael Whelan Printed in the United States of America McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com To Julie, Brenda, and Ann and to Karen, Caleb, and Julian This page intentionally left blank Table of Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: A More Subtle Macabre MICHAEL A. PERRY and PATRICK MCALEER 1 Part I. King in the World Around Us Fantasy in Fiction: The Double- Edged Sword JENNIFER JENKINS 10 King Me: Inviting New Perceptions and Purposes of the Popular and Horrific into the College Classroom MICHAEL A. PERRY 24 A Taste for the Public: Uncle Stevie’s Work for Entertainment Weekly SCOTT ASH 41 The World at Large, America in Particular: Cultural Fears and Societal Mayhem in King’s Fiction Since 1995 MARY FINDLEY 56 Part II. Spotlight on The Dark Tower Roland the Gunslinger’s Generic Transformation MICHELE BRAUN 66 “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”: The Heroic Aspects of the Gunslinger T. GILCHRIST WHITE 81 Riddles Wrapped in Mystery Inside Enigmas: Anglo- Saxon Literature as the Key to Unlocking the Ending of The Dark Tower Series JENNIFER D. LOMAN 93 vii Table of Contents A Rose, a Stone, an Unfound Door: Metaphor and Intertextuality in The Dark Tower Series GEORGIANNA O. MILLER 107 Part III. Writing into the Millennium Survival of the Sweetest: Little Miss Bosox and the Saving Grace of Baseball in The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon ABIGAIL L. BOWERS and LOWELL MICK WHITE 122 More Than Just Ghost Lore in a Bad Place: Mikael Håftröm’s Cinematographic Translation of 1408 ALEXANDRA REUBER 136 “Born in Sin”: Millennial Anxiety in Storm of the Century PHILIP L. SIMPSON 150 The Fallen King(dom): Surviving Ruin and Decay from The Stand to Cell PATRICK MCALEER 168 “The Word Pool, Where We All Go Down to Drink”: The Irresistible Pull of Language in Lisey’s Story JENNIFER ALBERICO 185 Bibliography 195 About the Contributors 205 Index 207 viii Acknowledgments First and foremost, the editors owe a debt of gratitude to Mary Findley—she is the original driving force behind this volume, and we are thankful that we were afforded the opportunity to complete the task set forth. Additionally, we would like to thank each and every contributor for this vol- ume—you all have been a pleasure to work with. Michael A. Perry would like to acknowledge his wife and forever partner, Karen—your unconditional support in all things is a blessing and a gift that I do not take lightly. I can’t wait to see what we do next. My boys, Caleb and Julian, for being Boys with a capital B. I would also like to thank my parents. My mom for reading to me nearly every night as a child. My dad for modeling what it means to be a lifelong reader and for placing a huge book called The Stand in my lap so many years ago. Who would have thought I could have turned that into a career? Patrick McAleer would like to acknowledge his friend, love, and partner Kim Socha—you are always supportive of everything that I do, and I thank you for bearing with me as I took time away from our wonderful days and evenings to work on this volume, and I am especially thankful to you for bearing with me and my shifting attitudes while editing and writing. You are a treasure, and I hope to repay your kindness and understanding each and every day. I would, of course, also like to thank my parents, Lee and Denise, who have, simply put, been wonderful folks and friends. ix