Stephen King is one of the most influential authors of today. His award-winning novels and short stories are known world -wide. His many awards and nominations have created a space for him in the literary world. King is a true “Horror King”, for his books, turned movies, have scared millions world- wide. Stephen King has helped bring America to prominence through his many books, essays and short stories.
Stephen Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947 at the Maine General Hospital in Portland, Maine. His parents were Donald Edwin King and Ruth Pillsbury King. Stephen being the only natural born child in the family and his older brother David having been adopted at birth two years earlier.
“The Kings were the typical, “nuclear” family of the fifties until one night when Donald King said he was stepping out for cigarettes and was never heard from again.” At this point Ruth took over raising the family with help from other relatives of the family. They traveled throughout many states over several years finally moving back to Durham, Maine in 1958. (P.R. 5 pg.1)
Stephen King began his actual writing career in January of 1959 when David King and Stephen decided to publish their own local town newspaper named Dave's Rag. David bought a mimeograph and they created a paper that sold for five cents an issue.
Stephen King attended Lisbon High School, in Lisbon, Maine in 1962. Collaborating with his best friend Chris Chesley, in 1963 they published a collection of 18 short stories called People, Places, and Things-Volume I. King's stories included "Hotel at the End of the Road", "I've Got to Get Away!” "The Dimension Warp", "The Thing at the Bottom of the Well", "The Stranger", "I'm Falling", "The Cursed Expedition", and "The Other Side of the Fog." A year later King's amateur press Triad and Gaslight Books, published a two part book titled "The Star Invaders".
Stephen King made his first actual published appearance in 1965 in the magazine Comics Review with his story "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber." The story ran about 6,000 words in length. In 1966, Stephen King graduated from high school and took a scholarship to attend the University of Maine. Looking back on his high school days, King recalled that "my high school career was totally undistinguished. I was not ...
... middle of paper ...
...p; In conclusion, Stephen King is not an easy person to write about. There are thousands of websites and books devoted to him and yet, none mention his international fame. Though my findings were slim, I feel that, given the information available, I have successfully proved that Stephen King has helped bring America into prominence through his writings. King is a dedicated writer and there is no end to his writing in site.
“…And aside from being a force of nature, he’s a pretty good guy.” As said by Robert Parker, introducer of speakers at a benefit, Voices Louder Than Words, at Harvard. (P.R. 1 Pg. 161)
1. Beahm, George. America’s Best Loved Boogeyman Stephen King. Andrews McMeel Publishing Kansas City 1998.
2. Beahm, George. The Stephen King Story. Andrew’s McMeel Publishing Kansas City 1991.
3. “Accident Recovery Update.” Stephen King Official Web Presence. http://www.stephenking.com (30 Jan. 2000)
4. “Novel Database.” http:///www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/1947/kingworks.htm (10 Feb. 2000)
5. “Stephen King Biography.” http://utopianweb.com/king/bio.html (10 Feb. 2000)
6. King, Stephen. ‘Salems Lot. Doubleday and Company New York 1975.
King’s stowaway status soon came to an end, and he was employed as a crewmember on steamboats. Captains taught him to navigate the boats on rivers in Florida and Alabama, and his acute sense of learning gave way to him becoming a captain (KING RANCH). Capt. King plied the waters of Alabama until 1842. In that year he served aboard boa...
Jan. 15, 1929 - Dr. King is born - Born on Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Ga., he was the second of three children of the Rev. Michael (later Martin) and Alberta Williams King.
Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.
Writers have changed the lives of many people over the years. In times of situation that people do not want to be in, times of wars, poverty, near death experience causing one to be immobile, or even just to get out of this world the works they create gives people those opportunities to do so. Stephen King is a big contributor of his published works to people in every on every continent. He is a writer of both novels and short stories, a film director, actor and even screen writer of most of his novels that turn into movies, but is he mainly known because of his works in the genre of horror. Going from his first published novel, Carrie and one of his famous selling The Shining King have made history as the king of
Stephen King was born in Maine in 1947. His father abandoned him when he was 2 years old. His mother and brother was all he ever knew. Him and his brother were raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana where his father lived at the time. He was also raised in Connecticut too. His mother decided to move them back to Maine for their own good. There he got a job at Kitchens of Pineland. A kitchen of Pineland was by a mentally challenged hospital. He went to a Durham grammar school then attended Libson High School. In 1966, He graduated. At University of Maine of Orana, he was a sophomore that wrote for The Maine Campus, the school’s newspaper. He became a member of the Student Senate in Student politician. He also attended an Anti-war movement. In 1970, he graduated. His examination was a 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums. From his examinations, he got a diploma to be a full time teacher.
His first published novel was Carrie, which he wrote while teaching high school English in Maine. It was published in 1973 after his wife found it in the garbage where King had thrown it.
Stephen King is known by many as a successful author, but every author is only as good as his or her works. King has produced various types of works such as short stories, novels, novellas, screenplays, and comics. His work has been the “most important bridge between the horror genre and literary respectability from the late 1960s and 1970s up to the present time” (Hoppenstand 3). Stephen Edwin King was born September 21, 1947 in Portland, Maine. He is the second son of Donald Edwin and Nellie Ruth King. When King was two years old, his father, a captain in the merchant marines, went out to buy a pack of cigarettes and never returned. Nellie, King’s mother, raised King and his adopted older brother David. The family under the care of Nellie experienced many hardships and moved often as she looked for work. The family lived in Maine, Massachusetts, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. When King was six years old, the family finally settled in Stratford, Connecticut (Hoppenstand 8; Stephen King).
...uch when he was alive and write many novels and other books in his lifetime. Many of his books he published were or still are at the top of the list of what to read in today's world. John Steinbeck really made an impact on literature in which we see today.
Martin Luther King Jr was following in his father’s steps because at age eighteen he wants to become a minister. Martin graduated from Morehouse college in 1948. Martin entered crozer theological seminary in Pennsylvania.
John Steinbeck and Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK Jr.) have both gone down in American literature as some of the most influential authors, but why? Steinbeck was an influential author throughout the 20th century with pieces in many genres. On the flip side is Martin Luther King, Jr., a civil rights leader in the fight against racial discrimination. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the style of these two authors, it is necessary to compare them on the bases of repetition, tone, and purpose.
For such a successful writer, Stephen King really had no secret to his writing style. King has credited free writing for his best ideas. He also has a very down to earth way of looking at his fame. Stephen King would read for four hours, and then he would write for four hours or until he reached 2,000 words. In a Time magazine interview, King called this his nine to five approach and that he, “worked until beer o’ clock.” When asked where his ideas came from, King would often reply, “I have the heart of a small boy. . . And I keep it in a jar on my desk.” Also, he does not have just one particular way of writing horror, and what often sets off the terror in his readers most was the vast amount of detail portrayed.
reputation as one of the finest American writers of all time. A man of towering
Ray Bradbury grew up in Waukegan and in Los Angeles, where he founded a magazine called Futuria Fantasia while in high school. He sold his first short story when he was 21 years old. His early stories were published in pulp magazines, but Bradbury later published stories in such mainstream magazines as The New Yorker, Mademoiselle, and the Saturday Evening Post. His science fiction and fantasy short-story collections included 'The Martian Chronicles', 'The Illustrated Man', and 'Dinosaur Tales'.
evidence of Stephen King being very interest in horror showed in his work in his early
Stephen King is known as one of the greatest horror and gothic writers of our time. The reason for this is his ability to fuse the gothic elements created by stories such as Dracula or Frankenstein and todays horror. King has written hundreds of short stories but two in-particular “The Night Flier” and “Popsy” show his unique ability to combined gothic elements from the old literature with realistic settings and people of our era. One of his greater talents is being able to use gothic element like vampires and make us see them in a different light. Kings unique way of writing with his old gothic ideals, new horror ideas, and use of realistic settings help to put a new spin on what we conceive as gothic story.