The Istoriaphile’s Corner

I came late to the Stephen King party.   His books first hit the national consciousness when I was a teenager and at the time, I decided they were bad.  Not because of the subject matter; I’ve been terrifying myself with stories since I first picked up a book.  No those early stories were poorly written, in my opinion, fiction man-handled onto a page by someone without subtly or regard for language.  Except for the film adaptations, I ignored the man’s output until 1999 (which is a separate tale in itself) when I found the author everyone else had been yakking about for decades.  I am sure some of Mr. King’s writing skill improved through sheer practice and I hope he’s had help from the best editors in the business but I’d guess the single greatest factor that improved the man’s work is his sobriety.  His later books have a focus that was missing in his earlier work.. Nothing shows the change more than comparing the two stories of Danny Torrence: The Shining and Doctor Sleep. The Shining is, of course, the account of the Torrence family’s tragic adventures in the Overlook Hotel.  Jack Torrence tries to turn his life around…