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/lit/ - Literature

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9797761 No.9797761 [Reply] [Original]

Redpill me on Stephen King

>> No.9797782
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9797782

His prose is slipshod, his characters are cartoons, his plots always disappoint and at times go into some really stupid shit, his novels are bloated with useless scenes, and he repeats story devices a lot over the course of his work. He admits he writes "the literary equivalent of McDonalds," but he also acts shitty when the academia doesn't take him seriously. He's probably one of the better pop writers out there, but nevertheless in a couple generations he be more remembered for the movie adaptations of his work, which are nearly always improvements from the source material.

>> No.9797798

>>9797782
Not OP, but what about Clive Barker? They often seem to be paired together. Barker directed the original Hellraiser film and I loved it. I would really like to get into his material.

>> No.9797803

>>9797798

Never read him, but I'm fond of his movie Nightbreed.

>> No.9797820

> but he also acts shitty when the academia doesn't take him seriously

Academia *should* look at pop/pulp works critically in some capacity. There's much to be learned from studying what has been validated by millions of readers

>> No.9797834

>Redpill me on ________.
Should be a bannable offense.

>> No.9797860

>>9797798
>I would really like to get into his material.

Dude, just pick up the first volume of Books of Blood - a multi-volume (5 part?) collection of his short stories - and dig in, and then move on from there. Some very good shit indeed. Very readable, very accessible. And I agree with you -- Hellraiser was a terrific horror film.

>> No.9797891

>>9797761
Did you know world-renowned author Stephen King was once in a car crash? Just something to consider.

>> No.9797906

Isn't stephen king famous for being one of the few authors out there who's actually written more books than he's read?

>> No.9797930

>>9797761
>Redpill me on Stephen King

For starters, they pretty much hate SK on /lit/.

I've read about a dozen of King's books, and 20-30 short stories, and a chunk of his nonfiction.

He's an above-average middle-brow writer. He is a talented bloke, whose plots sometimes creak with forced devices, but who is capable of spinning a great yarn, and devising compelling characters, good scenes and good dialogue in prolific abundance.

I don't know if he's a great writer. Probably not. I think Pet Sematary comes as close to being a great horror novel as any novel I've ever read, and has some fantastically imagined and rendered stuff if you're into horror writing, and it feels like a very passionately written book, as does The Shining, which is bit of a mess but has some very powerful stuff, e.g., the wasp's nest scene.

SK may be a shitty human being, or he may be a mix of shitty and not-so-shitty and pretty good, I dunno, I've heard stories, it's hard to say.

His prose can be slipshod, but it can also be razor sharp. He can be very funny and perceptive, too.

I thought Desperation was a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. You might want to give it a spin; it's a pleasant day-trip, not a month-long journey on the Pequod.

For a good short story, try "The Raft," which is in the collection Skeleton Crew. It's a knockout story, although probably less so if you've been spoilerized by seeing the film adaptation which is in some anthology film if memory serves.

Another decent short story is "The Night Flyer," although the ending is anticlimactic -- an example of the mixed bag King often presents, a mix of inspired and mediocre.

I've read a very little of his fantasy stuff; some people think that's his best work.

>> No.9797931

>>9797798
I'm gonna be a faggot and ask:
Is there a book with a similar atmosphere to Clive Barker's Undying (the videogame)?

>> No.9797988

>>9797906
King has read a great amount. Much more than anyone here ever will, I'm sure. He endlessly references other works.

>> No.9798839
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9798839

>>9797798
>I would really like to get into his material.

if that's true.. then how about.. you GO READ SOME? what is WITH PEOPLE who say "i'd like to get into Clive Barker, but, oh, i don't know what to do"? READ THE FUCKING BOOKS ALREADY!

WHAT IS *WRONG* WITH YOU PEOPLE?

>> No.9799072
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9799072

>>9798839
>rageface

>> No.9799088

He writes for his audience and he does that well. He has no delusions of being Proust and doesn't try to be. He does not try to make filet mignon, he just makes good burgers and he's happy with that...so are his customers. There's nothing wrong with him or his writing, it just has a different goal than "high literature".

In fact, we are talking about a man whose writing not only is popular but is part of modern culture for years. Cujo is synonymous with mad dogs, Pennywise is the quintessential scary clown, Carrie is an archetype for horror, etc. If the goal of literature isn't to reach the common man and become part of the cultural landscape he lives in, then that's not what he's writing.

I see him as a successor to Dickens.

>> No.9799114

>>9799088
>I see him as a successor to Dickens.
You have to be a completely deluded Stephen King fanboy to make that comparison.

>> No.9799220

He's underrated. His short stories are damn good. The Stand is a great apocalypse saga. "It" is a beautifully rendered tale of childhood. Pet Sematary is extremely spooky. He's really good at that Bruce Springsteen protagonist sort of haunted Americana, the nasty thing behind the burger joint. The criticism that he tends to write weak endings is pretty accurate (for his novels, not his short stories), but oh well, nobody's perfect.

>> No.9799400

>>9797930
Yeah, I've read Skeleton Crew, it was mediocre in general, but The Jaunt scared me genuinly.

>> No.9799414

King is the Nolan of literature.
His work is better than most of the mainstream bullshit but worse than the works of truly great artists.

>> No.9799441

>>9799414
No, King is vastly better as a writer than Nolan is a director. I have literally never felt any emotion while watching a Nolan film other than a sort of detached interest in the technique and plot, and even his technique isn't very impressive compared to true greats.

>> No.9799463

>redpill
>Stephen King
Amusing, so to speak.

I read everything he put out when I was a kid. I can't imagine wasting my time on it as an adult, however.
His prose is weak and seemingly never improves and his stories all start to look the same after you've read enough of them.
It was entertaining stuff when I was 14, though. Not gonna lie.

>> No.9799959

Read the long walk.

>> No.9799994

>>9797820
The masses have always been poor indicators of good taste. Why do you Stephanie Myers was a success? Or Jodi Picoult? Or James Patterson?

>> No.9800078

>>9797761
He stole the plot of the fucking Simpsons movie for his Under the Dome book

>> No.9800084

This isn't something like Joyce where you're going to miss the vast majority of the meaning behind the work if you don't do some research beforehand. If you just read one or two of his books, you'll be able to form an opinion on whether you like them or not. Regardless, they're not high-quality literature.

>> No.9800149

>>9797798
Barker is wayyyy better than King. The only thing they have in common is that their short stories are their best works. Like that other guy said read his Books of Blood.

>> No.9800153

>>9798839
Oh here, let me go spend some money that I don't have on a book that I don't even know is good or not. I don't expect that you'll buy it for me, so fuck off you massive faggot.