i love king! Esp his nonfiction, but Pet Semetary remains the scariest book I ever read, and i still can't watch The Shining -- even the TV version! he is underrated.
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i love king! Esp his nonfiction, but Pet Semetary remains the scariest book I ever read, and i still can't watch The Shining -- even the TV version! he is underrated.
No doubt he is a great writer. But there is also no doubt that he pushes alot of books out for money.
Nah, he's a writer, the term is pulp.Quote:
Originally Posted by jon1jt
If only I could do the same!
Charles Bukowski, Jack London, O Henry, Kurt Vonnegut, are members of that group called pulp writers. With all due respect, you are delusional giving King that label.Quote:
Originally Posted by JBI
I predict in less than 100 years all Stephen King books will be gone from the shelves of public libraries and bookstores, and his contribution to literature with it.
Stephen King better be enjoying all that money that he can't seem to get enough of. When he writes something substantial do let me know.
Recycling is a beautiful thing. All old books at booksales that don't sell just end up being crumbled down. That will happen to King too - you'd be surprised at the amount of "popular" authors' books that get recycled.Quote:
Originally Posted by jon1jt
King will die knowing that, in spite of all his wealth and pop fame, that he took advantage of the public. And yet in years to come nobody will remember a single word he wrote, or even his name, because his life's work went into the black hole of history---onto that ash heap of chameleon turd.Quote:
Originally Posted by JBI
It's better to die once a nobody having pursued a substantial end than to have lived one hundred lives a hack. ;)
His work has always entertained me, from a young age at that. I started reading King when I was in middle school and as it is with all pop lit, it sparked the flame of wonder and interest in reading which I think is a great thing. So he's not totally useless..
Maybe. I predict while Horror exists as a separate genre, and a specific fandom exists around that genre, Stephen King isn't going anywhere.Quote:
Originally Posted by jon1jt
I will dispute that. I think horror, as a genre will evolve. Certainly Mad Shadows is a better psychological horror than It and about 1/5th the length. Gothicism in general is a prevalent style in Canadian fiction, especially French Canadian, and there are very many accessible Horror texts, which are not pop, and which are great reads. Kamouraska, for instance, is a better psychological horror text. Whereas Lovecraft perhaps will exist in the future, King I don't think will. He isn't as central to the genre, and I doubt will age well. But that is all just a guess - chances are, I'll be the only one here reading French Canadian Gothic fiction, when all those names have faded. Who can tell?Quote:
Originally Posted by Drkshadow03
In terms of horror existing as a separate genre, that is bound to die. All separate genre eventually mix into a mainstream genre, before being broken up into new genre. The Historical Romance, or the country novel, for instance, have faded, as have the popular Gothic romances, morality tales, and even, I would argue, the original concept of Science Fiction (though perhaps you can argue differently, given that you are more qualified than me on the subject).
The marketing power of King will ultimately die with his death. After that, there will be no real advertisement of his works, as scholars don't particularly support him, and the next generation will certainly not, if what I sense about new trends in criticism is true. The only possibility of him surviving really, is to be adopted by those who would advertise his books, either publishing firms, or academic critics. The papers that advertise and critique popular novels will only really support new novels, so the only hope he has, outside of academic circles, is a sustained influence on future writers. Is that possible? Gene Wolfe, I can see as maybe fulfilling that, Lovecraft certainly, Zelazny, hopefully, Le Guin, definitely, but King? I'm not to sure.
Oh, I don't know. There are a cadre of scholars working in academia who respect King. People are still writing criticism about his books in the form of peer-reviewed articles, popular articles, dissertations, and book after all these years at rates similar to Lovecraft, LeGuin, and Zelazny. I know, I checked MLA database, and the amount of articles they have indexed for each of those authors are all similar in numbers. So there are people writing positively about King who rank him highly.Quote:
Originally Posted by JBI
Add on the fact that he has won quite a few prestigious literary awards outside and within the genre, has had a few his works included in the only "list" of top Horror novel thus far written (thus making it a standard for new readers looking to get into horror), and I think there is ample evidence that King may in fact survive for some time. But I could be wrong.
You make it sound like King somehow scammed the public or something. As far as I can tell, his only crime is that he writes books that people want to buy. Why shouldn't he be proud of that on his death bed?Quote:
Originally Posted by jon1jt
Trash. And I can't stand how he dumbs down his characters to get a story going.
^Its because he is just forcing more s**t out of his brain to collect his next paycheck.
In terms of literary vision, he is the human manifestation of what Coleridge called fancy, a mediocre rehasher of others' ideas.