The University of Wisconsin Press
Popular Culture / Literature & Criticism
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Dissecting
Stephen King "Meticulously researched and argued, Strengell's work offers original insights on King's treatment of gender and sexuality, his use of Gothic tropes and themes, and the literary and mythological influences he has freely adapted."—Tony Magistrale, University of Vermont, author of Landscape of Fear: Stephen King's American Gothic In a thoughtful, well-informed study exploring
fiction from throughout Stephen King's immense oeuvre, Heidi
Strengell shows how this popular writer enriches his unique brand
of horror by building on the traditions of his literary heritage.
Tapping into the wellsprings of the gothic to reveal contemporary
phobias, King invokes the abnormal and repressed sexuality of
the vampire, the hubris of Frankenstein, the split identity of
the werewolf, and the domestic melodrama of the ghost tale. Drawing
on myths and fairy tales, he creates characters who, like the
heroic Roland the Gunslinger and the villainous Randall Flagg,
may either reinforce or subvert the reader's childlike faith
in society. And in the manner of the naturalist tradition, he
reinforces a tension between the free will of the individual
and the daunting hand of fate. Heidi Strengell is director of the Language Center at the University of Lapland, Finland.
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