Stephen King Research Articles

TABOO WORDS IN STEPHEN KING’S NOVEL THE SHINING

This study investigates the use of taboo words by characters in Stephen King’s novel The Shining through a sociolinguistic approach, focusing on their types and functions. The novel follows Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy, and their son Danny, whose stay at the Overlook Hotel leads Jack into a spiral of psychological instability and violence. This research categorizes and quantifies the types and functions of taboo words, applying a descriptive qualitative method complemented by quantitative analysis. The primary data source was the novel itself, with the researcher as the primary instrument and a data sheet as a secondary tool. Results indicate four types of taboo words: epithets, profanity, obscenities, and vulgarities, totaling 300 instances. Profanity appears most frequently (123 instances, 41%), with obscenities following at 79 instances (26.33%). Epithets account for 63 instances (21%), while vulgarities occur least often at 35 instances (11.67%). Further, analysis of the functions of taboo words reveals that characters use them in auxiliary (126 instances, 42%), expletive (101 instances, 33.67%), abusive (63 instances, 21%), and humorous (10 instances, 3.33%) capacities. The dominance of the auxiliary function suggests that characters frequently incorporate taboo language into regular speech patterns rather than using it for direct insult. The minimal presence of the humorous function aligns with the novel's intense psychological horror and supernatural atmosphere, which limits comedic expression.

The Reflection of Self in Postmodern Labyrinth: An inquisitive Study in Stephen king’s The Mist and Misery

This paper investigates Stephen King’s postmodern books Misery and The Mist, emphasizing how they examine the self in connection to literature and reality from a postmodern perspective. Misery lacks supernatural themes, in contrast to previous King works, and instead presents a conventional story that is chamber play-like in its suspense and restraint. Both the books challenge conventional ideas of authenticity, uniqueness, and authority in writing and reading by highlighting the power struggles and tensions between the individual and the community through a variety of techniques. Misery and The Mist present opposing perspectives on the nature of the ego, its place in the postmodern maze of crises and uncertainties, and the moral ramifications of one's decisions and deeds through their stories.

How Do Famous Artists Write about Their Metacognition, Self-Regulation and Creative Problem-Solving?

Creative metacognition, creative self-regulation, and creative problem-solving are three key concepts stemming from distinct psychological traditions. However, all three involve planning, monitoring, regulation, and self-evaluation in the creative process. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to describe and compare how these three models are exhibited in the cases of five professional artists, as depicted in their autobiographical writings. The artists were selected based on maximum-variation sampling to represent different artistic fields: Stephen King, Salvador Dalí, Patti Smith, Terry Gilliam, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. A theory-driven thematic analysis, using the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory, the Creative Self-Regulation Questionnaire, and Mumford's model of Creative Problem-Solving, revealed both commonalities and differences in the ways these artists apply metacognitive knowledge, and self-regulatory and problem-solving strategies in their creative processes. Furthermore, the study identified several elements not included in these models, such as the need for a psychologically safe environment, the roles of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and the perceived value of creativity.

SEARCH FOR THE LINGUOCULTUROLOGICAL PRINCIPLE OF TRANSLATING METAPHORS IN STEPHEN KING’S SMALL WORKS (BASED ON STORIES “THE APT PUPIL” AND “RAINY SEASON”)

This article analyzes the creative heritage of the American writer Stephen King who has become famous for his works in the genres of horror literature and dark fantasy. In the course of the study, the authors study semantic, functional, structural metaphors, their stylistic and linguocultural features using the example of Stephen King’s stories “The Apt Pupil” and “Rainy Season”. The research methodology is based on a comparative analysis of the original works and translations by Russian linguists S.E. Task, M.V. Opaleva, V.V. Antonov, I.G. Pochitalin, B.G. Lyubartsev, V.A. Weber. The chronological framework of the study covers the period of the conceptualization of Stephen King’s work (translations by S.E. Task and I.G. Pochitalin) from 1991 to the latest experiments in the linguocultural rethinking of the comparative method (translation by V.V. Antonov) in 2012-2013. The main course of the study directed at analyzing the characteristic features of original metaphors and their translation forms, which lose and gain unique cultural features in comparison with the context in English. This approach clearly demonstrates not only the diversity of the author’s idiostyle, which touches on both the mystical-religious and personal feelings of the modern man, but also the acute social problems of modern society. It allows us to trace the emergence of new meanings in translated forms of metaphors. The results of the study show that quite often translators of Stephen King, trying to adapt the text, lose flexibility.

Ableism in the Air: Disability Panic in Stephen King’s The Stand

Abstract This article uses Stephen King’s 1990, uncut release of his famous 1978 horror novel The Stand to reveal the ways the contemporary horror genre implements the language of pandemics and contagious disease to promote ableist ideas about disability. The horror novel villainizes an antagonist as a central function of its plot. When the antagonist is an airborne disease that inflicts disability and death upon its victims, the novel can be a site of production for what I term “disability panic,” a fear and disgust at the possibility of becoming disabled, and a contempt for those who already are. This article argues that The Stand calls attention to how stereotypes and misconceptions around illness-induced disability form in times of crisis. This article merges genre studies in horror, disability language, and rhetoric of disease in literature to uncover how King reveals that the language of the horror novel can contribute to a cultural fear and hatred of disability. This novel, though written decades ago, mimics the language of corona virus disease 2019 in current popular media. This article demonstrates how fear of airborne disease in a horror novel can increase fear of real-life pandemics and contribute to ableist views of those suffering from illness-related disability.

A North-American small town as a topos of Robertson Davis’s and Stephen King’s novels (Fifth Business and Revival)

A North-American small town as a topos of Robertson Davis’s and Stephen King’s novels (Fifth Business and Revival)

The Interplay of Fantasy and Physics in King’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger: A Physicist’s Perspective

The paper aims to explore the existence of many worlds and their interconnections in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. It draws on theoretical physicist Brian Greene’s concept of parallel universes. It also draws on the theoretical concept of Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen as they have discussed in ‘Einstein-Rosen Bridge Theory’. This theory is commonly known as wormholes that connect different regions of space-time, enabling the journey from one world to another and back. Greene's theoretical underpinnings, proposing a vast ensemble of universes with distinct properties, find expressions in the narrative. King's narrative, exemplified by, among others, Jake's revival in Mid-World after a presumed death in a New York car accident, explicitly embraces the idea of parallel universes, each with unique physical laws that influence the concepts such as life and death. The narrative unfolds across disparate worlds, echoing Greene’s theoretical mapping of parallel universes, each governed by its unique set of physical laws and realities. In the narrative, the exploration of multiverse concepts employs fiction's imaginative license to investigate interconnected universes and the potential for transcendent journeys through the cosmic fabric. The theoretical backdrop finds resonance in the novel where characters navigate within the four-dimensional continuum, mirroring the speculative nature of multiverse theories. By intertwining the world of fantasy with the hypotheses of physics, the paper discusses the connections between seemingly disparate realms. This perspective bridges literature and theoretical physics, offering a compelling exploration of the speculative landscapes of parallel universes.

On Stephen King, and the “What” and “Why” of American Archivist

On Stephen King, and the “What” and “Why” of <i>American Archivist</i>

From Mary Shelley to Stephen King: the transformation of gothic fiction in English literature

The article is dedicated to studying the evolution of the Gothic novel in English-language literature from the 18th century to the modern stage of development through the lens of genre transformations and stylistic modifications. The purpose of the article is to study the peculiarities of the Gothic novel genre in English-language literature through the prism of genre transformations, the dialectic of tradition and innovation. The research was conducted on the basis of the complex application of the method of analysis and synthesis, comparative-typological, biographical, historical-genetic methods and the method of generalization. By conducting a typological comparison of the early Gothic novel, represented in the works of Horace Walpole, Mary Shelley, Ann Radcliffe, and the later Gothic novels of Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and Stephen King, it was found that the peculiarity of mature Gothic novels compared to early ones is authorial subjectivity, vivid imagery, and picturesque quality, which eventually evolves into a fascination with supernatural phenomena and horrors. The figurative and symbolic system of the Gothic novel also evolves, as demons and the deceased are replaced by the innocent image of a child or woman, erasing the gender boundaries of the villain hero as the primary catalyst of the plot.

A COMPOSITIONAL EXPLORATION OF THE HORROR ELEMENTS IN THE SHINING, DRACULA AND THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

The horror genre has captivated audiences across various media, eliciting a range of emotions through its skillful manipulation of compositional elements. This research paper explores the intricate tapestry of narrative structure, character development, atmospheric construction, and thematic exploration that shape the horror experience. By employing a mixed-methods approach, integrating qualitative textual and visual analysis with quantitative data on audience responses, this study delves into the intricate dynamics of intermedial adaptation. Through a comprehensive examination of renowned literary horror works and their cinematic counterparts, including "The Shining" by Stephen King, "Dracula" by Bram Stoker, and "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson, this research unveils the creative strategies employed by writers and filmmakers to evoke fear, suspense, and thrill. The quantitative analysis provides empirical evidence of audience engagement and emotional resonance, while the qualitative exploration unravels the nuanced compositional elements and adaptation techniques. By synthesizing these complementary perspectives, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the horror experience across media platforms, offering valuable insights for artists, scholars, and audiences alike. Ultimately, this research underscores the enduring cultural significance of horror narratives and their potential to provoke meaningful discourse while captivating generations to come.

THE TRANSLATION OF S. KING’S “DARK TOWER” NOVEL SERIES AND R. BROWNING’S POEM “CHILDE ROLAND TO THE DARK TOWER CAME”: A COMPARATIVE ASPECT

This article analyzes the formation of the diversity of the genre of the series of novels “The Dark Tower” by Stephen King, as well as the clips of Robert Browning’s poem in the predominant image of the Tower of Roland and the connection with these genre transformations. In the course of the study, the authors analyze the series of novels “The Dark Tower” and the poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, in particular, the features of the genres, the compositional and stylistic features inherent in these works. When demonstrating the characteristic features of R. Browning’s and S. King’s creative work, it was found that romanticized fantasy per se includes many genre features that differ from the manifestations of horror and classic fiction: fantasy is a genre in the style of high fantasy and concealment, a fairy tale. At the same time, dark fantasy, although it includes most of the traditional fantasy surroundings, is characterized not so much by the interrelationship between its fantasy elements and the narrative, but rather by the connection between the gothic and the horror types of fiction; there is much less science fiction in dark fantasy than in high fantasy. At the discussion stage, it was determined that the best method for translating the lead when working with two multi-genre works is the comparative method, which is based on a simple principle: “What is it like?” As a result, we came to the conclusion that, on the one hand, the use of a methodological method leads to the fact that in the process of text analysis it is necessary to limit the framework to the conventions of the functional style, the genre uniqueness of the analyzed ones, preserving their artistic orientation and the idiostyle of the author. On the other hand, in this way we get the opportunity to carry out parallel search and optimization of data for its synthesis and translation into the exchange part.

The Monster Within

Several debates emerged from Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining, mostly because of the notable changes that the director made in the film. This essay aims to explore the possible reasons behind these changes by introducing the main differences, such as the tone, themes, and the endings. The analysis particularly focuses on the main character’s representations, not only because it is the most significant difference, but also because the character of Jack Torrance is the most memorable element of the story, especially in the case of Kubrick’s film. My essay aims to demonstrate that Kubrick’s divergent approach is what led to the story’s new elements, layers and interpretation.

From Decline to Becoming: Evolving Images of Aging Masculinities in Stephen King’s Mr Mercedes

From Decline to Becoming: Evolving Images of Aging Masculinities in Stephen King’s Mr Mercedes

Adapt, Survive and Evolve: Changing Environment in Two Post-Apocalyptic Novels The Stand and Earth Abides

The following research which is grounded on natural selection uses text analysis to find out the significance of survival in the post-apocalyptic narration mainly with reference to Stephen King's The Stand. The intertextuality of this work with Earth Abides is also pointed out. The saga of survival in the post-apocalyptic period, Darwin’s concept of survival of the fittest and the human ability for adaptation are elucidated in the article. The survival stories teach us how to reconstruct the fallen society, providing an insight into how the affected people handle the situation (Leon C Megginson). It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change. The pandemic narratives can serve as an important area in the classic to contemporary literature in throwing light on future survival issues, teaching how to overcome the precarious situations. It can be reiterated that the post-apocalyptic narratives speak volumes about the above-mentioned significant areas. Ipso facto, the popularity of Pandemic literature should make humanity sure-footed in prevailing over the pandemic threats, and assuring new life and hope.

The Mechanism of Survival in Post-Apocalyptic Pandemic Narratives: A Comparative Study

Post-Apocalyptic Fiction is a subgenre of science fiction in which a global crisis takes its toll on the human population, leaving only a few with the luck of surviving the scene. However, survival slowly develops into a determining power as the remaining people try to reconstruct a new civilization with the use of different strategies and mechanisms of survival. This study is then based on post-apocalyptic texts, particularly ones that are concerned with pandemics, and carefully examines and compares two ground-breaking narratives of post-apocalyptic fiction: Stephen King’s The Stand (1978) and Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven (2014). It attempts to explore the two narratives in terms of the strategies and mechanisms of survival as the two novelists recapture the survivors’ experiences and their struggle to survive the ongoing post-apocalyptic setting.

The Lesson and/or the master: Alex MacKeith and writing today

In this interview, award-winning musical comedian Alex MacKeith and I examine his screenplay for Alice Troughton’s new film The Lesson (2023). MacKeith goes over his creative process, from his incorporation of some of his experiences as a tutor following university to his development of individual characters, and from his project’s growth and improvement across successive drafts to the kinds of affirmation that he gets from his work in musical comedy in comparison to his work in scriptwriting. We go on to discuss his magnificent central character: the writer J. M. Sinclair (Richard E. Grant). The film follows Liam (Daryl McCormack), a young writer hired to prepare Sinclair’s son (Stephen McMillan) for Oxford, but as it unfolds, we learn, alongside Liam, about Sinclair’s personal and public lives. Sinclair’s wife Hélène (Julie Delpy) hired Liam specifically to investigate him. A living cliché, Sinclair is claiming credit for work that really belongs to his deceased son Felix (Joseph Meurer). For this film, MacKeith was longlisted for a British Independent Film Award. It has been described by Stephen King as being ‘[c]old, smart, and suspenseful’ and it is a New York Times’s Critics Pick. In this climate, when conversations about originality, notably the place of artificial intelligence in creative and critical projects, are all the rage, this interview’s exploration of authorship, intellectual property and retirement for creatives is especially timely.

Resilience in Stephen King’s Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption

Resilience in Stephen King’s Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption

Narrating Conspiracy Theories: A Paradoxical Ethics of Otherness, Propaganda and Mistrust

Reflecting conspiracy theories in contemporary fiction actualises conspiratorial thinking as a specific sociocultural phenomenon and narrative. Four symptomatic novels – George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Ahmed Khaled Towfik’s Utopia, and Stephen King’s The Institute – have been analysed from a conspiratorial perspective to illuminate the most efficient ways of shaping the human perception of reality. For this purpose, the following conspiracy elements have been delineated to be the basis of the novels’ poetics: otherness, propaganda, and mistrust. They affect the authors’ strategies of storytelling in the books written in the era of the end of truth. Following an interdisciplinary approach that primarily includes the method of narrative construction and semiotic analysis, the article focuses on the conspiracy elements for plotting the selected novels and explicates conspiracy narratives for manifesting the paradoxical ethics of truth as fiction. Conceptualising this idea in the sociocultural context confers to such a kind of literature a new ethical dimension.

Rage: Stephen King’s Strange Fiction becomes a Grim Reality

In this study, a critical analysis of one of Stephen King’s most well-known novels, Rage, is taken into consideration. A psychological thriller is what you will find in Rage. There is a school shooting depicted in the novel that is based on actual incidents that took place in secondary schools throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. The psychology of school children and the conditions in which they find themselves are also discussed in this essay. The plot revolves around a troubled high school student who struggles with issues of authority and who commits murder against one of his teachers while also holding the majority of his classmates captive. While Charlie Decker is in the midst of a protracted, stressful, and exhausting warm evening, he discusses what led him to this dramatic series of acts. At the same time, he is examining the identities of his peers and asking each of them to defend their own lives. Surprisingly, this book is linked to a number of incidents involving shootings at top universities. There was one such incident that resulted in the deaths of three classmates and the injuries of five more. A teenager named Michael Carneal’s closet serves as the setting for the tale. In this particular instance, Rage was responsible for the sixth high school shooting. As a result, the purpose of this research is to investigate the causes and consequences of the novel as well as the shootings that occurred in real life that are linked to it.

Scary stories for children as first horror readings and the frightful trip of Huey, Dewey and Louie

In the Duckscares series, Donald Duck’s famous nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie travel to several European countries, where they face numerous supernatural dangers. In Brazil, the comics were published in 2021 as a compilation containing four stories, each being split in two parts. The object of research is ‘The Nightmare Formula’ story. It dialogs with elements from fairy tales connected to characters and conventions commonly found in fear narratives, as expected, and aims at observing the strategies used by both verbal and non-verbal texts with the intention of causing fear to the reader. This publication is an example of how terror can also please younger readers when it is created with this public in mind; it is also a first point of contact with the genre that can potentially increase the number of adult readers interested in it. This research is based on the theoretical works of Carlos Reis, Paulo Ramos, Stephen King and Thierry Groensteen.