person1947–

Stephen King

Disciplines:

Summary

American novelist — the best-selling horror and thriller writer in history — author of Carrie, The Shining, It, The Stand, Misery, and 60+ other novels — whose On Writing is the most widely read craft memoir for fiction writers.

Core Contribution

Creates the modern horror novel as mass market literature — King's combination of supernatural horror with deep naturalistic characterization (small-town Maine settings, ordinary people in extraordinary fear) made horror a mainstream literary category rather than a pulp ghetto.

Key Spikes & Highlights

Was so severely alcoholic and cocaine-addicted during the mid-1980s that he has no memory of writing Cujo — one of his novels was written in a complete blackout; his memoir On Writing describes the addiction with brutal honesty and his eventual recovery; the dissociation between prolific output and complete absence of memory is the most extreme documented case of addiction-enabled creativity in literary history
Threw Carrie's manuscript in the trash — his wife Tabitha retrieved it and convinced him to finish it; the novel became his first published book and launched his career; the story is the most frequently cited example of spousal intervention in literary history

Notable Works & Achievements

Carrie

The Shining

The Stand

Misery

The Dark Tower series

On Writing

Historical Influences

H.P. Lovecraft Richard Matheson Shirley Jackson

Intellectual Lineage

Portland, Maine University of Maine Carrie Constant Writer

Contemporaries & Peers

Dean Koontz Peter Straub Joe Hill

Minds Influenced

Horror fiction Popular fiction craft

Intellectual Posterity

The Shining It The Stand On Writing Constant Reader King as horror genre standard

Discussing

Stephen King

Ask anything about Stephen King — their ideas, influences, contradictions, legacy.

person1947–

Stephen King

Disciplines:

Summary

Core Contribution

Key Spikes & Highlights

Was so severely alcoholic and cocaine-addicted during the mid-1980s that he has no memory of writing Cujo — one of his novels was written in a complete blackout; his memoir On Writing describes the addiction with brutal honesty and his eventual recovery; the dissociation between prolific output and complete absence of memory is the most extreme documented case of addiction-enabled creativity in literary history
Threw Carrie's manuscript in the trash — his wife Tabitha retrieved it and convinced him to finish it; the novel became his first published book and launched his career; the story is the most frequently cited example of spousal intervention in literary history