They were set in small towns and included horror and suspense. Tolkien, Ken Kesey, Margaret Mitchell, Andre North, Jack London, Agatha Christie, and Thomas Hardy.īy the time Stephen was in high school, he was writing short stories modeled on the books he had read. MacDonald, Ed McBain, Shirley Jackson, J. As a youth, Stephen read avidly and enjoyed a wide variety of books by authors such as John D. A lonely child who wore thick glasses and was not good in athletics, Stephen preferred the solitary activities of listening to horror stories on the radio, reading scary books, and watching science fiction movies. After moving several times, the family moved to Durham, Maine, where Stephen's mother took care of her aging parents.Īlthough Stephen's father was not a part of his life, he influenced him by leaving behind many fantasy-horror fiction books. His father left the family while Stephen was very young, and his mother supported them with a variety of low-paying jobs. Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine, in September 1947. He is not a moralist his stories unfold naturally. Characters often harbor evil and/or vengeful feelings that compel their actions.ġ0. He writes about "taboo subjects" such as death, destruction, and the unknown.ĩ. The fragility of life is a major theme.Ĩ. The forces of good and evil are often equal combatants.ħ. He provides insights into the dark side of humanity.Ħ. Youthful and elderly characters are important in his stories.ĥ. He uses terror, horror, and "gross" techniques to captivate his readers.Ĥ. Stephen King is, first and foremost, a good storyteller.Ģ. Such writers as Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson, Wilkie Collins, and Charles Dickens are just a few examples of classic writers who won similar popular acclaim in their day.ġ. In terms of popularity, he is a major contemporary author who has mastered the craft of creating horror and suspense stories, both genres with long historic and literary roots. Recent surveys of high school and college students indicate that the fiction of Stephen King is widely read. What Makes Stephen King's Fiction Worthy of Study? The activities suggested require the students' active involvement in the stories and include ideas for discussion, writing, research, drama, and utilization of technology. This teacher's guide will suggest ways to incorporate the selected Stephen King short stories into the high school or college English curriculum. Teachers, however, are warned to pre-read these stories before assigning them to a class, and to use only those that are most appropriate for the maturity of the students. When hard colloquial language is employed, it is appropriate to the characters and the story. The vocabulary in the selected stories is frequently challenging, but rarely crude. Without a doubt they are horrifying however, they also have important messages about good and evil and human motivation. The goal of this teacher's guide is to provide a selection of King's short stories that are appropriate for classroom use. When introduced as the first readings in a unit on horror and suspense in literature, King's short stories can be excellent springboards to the work of classic novelists. Because students are already familiar with King's work and are intrigued by the genre of horror, they are willing to analyze the stories and use them as a model for their own writing. However, King has many stories that are not only motivational, but worthy of study. His often strong language or the grossness of the horror in some of his stories may have been a barrier. Although most teachers recognize the motivational quality of King's work, many have not considered teaching it in the classroom. Because of his popularity with the young, assigning a Stephen King short story to a class will certainly appeal to even the most reluctant readers. High school students who have not read his novels have probably seen films based on them or others for which he has written the screenplays. There is no doubt that Stephen King is an incredibly popular author of horror short stories and novels.
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