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Stephen King: Sein Werk, sein Leben, seine Inspiration
Rezension © 2023 by Klaus Spangenmacher
[machine translation]Short description
Even if you are a die-hard Stephen King fan, you will find numerous unknown facts in this work. In his newly edited, illustrated biography Stephen King: HIS WORK, HIS LIFE, HIS INSPIRATION, Bev Vincent has managed to collect a lot of rare documents, photos and background information from King's own archive.
The result is a reference work that you will refer to again and again. King's development from a penniless student and teacher to a globally acclaimed best-selling author is unique. He has been publishing his novels and short stories almost every year for almost 50 years and has almost single-handedly founded a new, booming market for horror literature that is still thriving today.
He has received numerous awards for his work, including the National Book Foundation's special lifetime achievement award in 2003 and the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 2015, the most important prize in crime fiction. In 2015, President Barack Obama honored him with the National Medal of Arts. In 2018 he received the PEN America Literary Service Award for his work against all oppression and the defense of humanitarian values.
My opinion:
Many of the often quite good non-fiction books about Stephen King are rarely translated into German and often do not attract the interest of German-language publishers, which is sometimes a real shame. Unfortunately, the big players in the book industry usually only focus on sales figures and so we miss out on a lot of things worth reading. But now, fortunately, the Swiss Edition Olms has embraced a German edition of Stephen King: His Work, His Life, His Inspiration with open arms , and I believe that this was not a mistake.
Bev Vincent has been a contributing editor to the American magazine Cemetery Dance since 2001 and is a former member of the Storytellers Unplugged blogging community. And for every connoisseur, he is also a name in the King universe who has accumulated a hell of a lot of knowledge about Stephen King's works and his life. And he has already proven this in various other non-fiction books (e.g. The Dark Tower Companion and many others ).
The book provides tons of well-founded information for new and younger fans of Stephen King, but we also get new and very insightful information for us old nostalgic fans. And above all, we become aware again of the changes and turns Stephen King's writing style and life has undergone, especially with regard to his violent accident in 1999. Bev Vincent also looks at the many connections between the novels and what inspires King and was and is influenced.
And what also makes us a little proud is of course the mention of the German fan pages for Stephen King that I maintain and maintain
Conclusion:
A great collection of information for anyone who also wants to learn about the author behind the many novels and stories.
Not just for hardcore fans but also for normal friends of his books, films and other adaptations and their influence on other authors and even on an entire genre.
5 Stars
About the author:
Bev Vincent is an essayist, fiction writer and literary critic. He is an expert on Stephen King and has been writing for years for the magazine “Cemetery Dance,” which specializes in horror literature. He is also the author of The Road to the Dark Tower, which King himself authorized and commented, "Wonderful, opening doors into Roland's world that even I didn't know existed." Bev Vincent has conducted frequent interviews with King and regularly tweets the latest King information.
[machine translated]
Stephen King is an American novelist who is one of the best-known and most influential figures in modern horror and thriller literature. His name is almost synonymous with the genre, he has been writing novels and short stories for more than fifty years. Many adaptations of his novels have been made. Vivid character portrayal, he is able to write real everyday locations and situations to such a horror level, he really brings the fun to the readers. He often deals with human fears, childhood memories, and special creatures.
I also have quite a few volumes from the master. Both older and newer editions. Perhaps I can also say that I collect his novels. One of my favorites is Carrie and the Long March , as well as The Writing, which is partly about her life and partly about her writing . The latter is especially special because it gives a little insight into the writer's life. The volume was first published in 2000. So we can say, not so fresh. While reading each of his books, I think about how someone can be so creative, where the idea comes from, and how wide his fantasy world is.
However, now a new, fresh and extremely informative volume has been published by GABO Publishing House , to the delight of all Stephen King fans. The author of the book, Bev Vincent, who is not only a fan but also a great writer and critic, thoroughly explores the circumstances and influences that influenced each of the author's volumes. It gives a detailed account of how and where King wrote these works, and sheds light on what happened in the writer's life during the periods when he was working on specific books.
The book is stunningly illustrated and documents King's manuscripts, correspondence, drawings and other memorabilia in detail. What I liked best was that the volume also functions as a kind of album. Large, colorful images really stand out.
Such biographies not only present the life of a writer, but also provide insight into the creative process, creative motivations, and passion for writing. Therefore, for those interested in literature, writing and Stephen King, it will provide an exciting and inspiring read.
Although I do not flirt with writing, Stephen King's perseverance and successes encourage me to see obstacles as challenges and try to build from them. His life will certainly influence my other creative processes as well.
[machine translated from German]
I read my first King in 1985. The thick paperback edition (Bastei Lübbe) of “The Last Battle” was my companion for a few days, which I read day and night (and under the school desk). This was followed by a massive Stephen King addiction, which has now given me almost 450 Stephen King books in various languages, over 200 secondary books, collaboration with or later management of the (ex-) Stephen King fan club - the KRAG -, a friend and gave me a husband.
Would I consider myself a King connoisseur? Nope. The tendency used to be yes, today less so. Cemetry Dance
editor and author Bev Vincent is a Stephen King professional, at least in the US. He knows the master of the macabre personally and professionally, has interviewed him, worked with him and published several non-fiction books about Stephen King, for example " The Road to the Dark Tower: Exploring Stephen King's Magnum Opus " . Together they published, among other things, the anthology “Flight and Fear” (Heyne 2019) .
»A Complete Exploration of his Work, Life and Influences« by Bev Vincent was originally published in 2022. A year later - in September 2023 - the Swiss publisher Edition Olms brought the biography and bibliography onto the market in German: "Stephen King - His work, his life, his inspiration" .
Let's take a look inside?
Looked in the book
“Stephen King – His Work, His Life, His Inspiration” is a beautifully designed edition with many graphic details. 240 pages, more than 500 colored photos and documents in a large format hardcover (22 x 28 cm). The translation from English is by Michael Auwers .
The non-fiction book is divided into six periods, after which there is a selection of bibliography, appendices, notes, image credits and ends with information about Bev Vincent and his thanks to everyone who makes his work possible.
You get a direct insight in the video on TikTok and Instagram .
Quote from the introduction: “Other contemporary authors may sell more copies of their new books, but none symbolize an entire genre quite like Stephen King.”
Even the introduction shows well-founded insider knowledge. The first chapter deals with the artist as a young man from 1950 to 1969 , examining his childhood and youth, his first writing and his interest in stories. This is followed by the Doubleday years , in which King celebrated his first major writing successes, he married and became the father of three children. The family had financial difficulties and Stephen King had a drug and alcohol problem. Today's fan knows all of this. Bev Vincent supports these facts with letters and details. Graphics, photos, covers, original notes follow in the next chapters, which deal with the golden years in the 80s and the experiments and change in the 90s . Chapter 5 looks at life after Stephen King's serious accident. We all remember the news that Stephen King had been hit by a car. A shock in the fan community. Stephen King recovered - with restrictions. The King universe , as Bev Vincent calls it, begins in 2000 and deals with King and crime novels from 2010 onwards .
I find the layout of the book authentic. I remember the first decades, from Carrie to his accident, the same way. The photos, the books and the content of Bev Vincent's texts are mostly already known to a fan, but I like how he summarizes everything again, with concise book contents, internal information and the creation of the books. In the 2000s - in the book from page 168 - everything becomes more compact. I had a similar experience, because this was also the time when Stephen King's novels were changing, and not only that - his core readership was changing too. Stephen King aged, and we aged with him, but many of the old readers dropped out - only buying his books for nostalgic reasons or in the hope of having the same feeling when reading a novel as they did with Shining , It , Christine or The Stand .
There is no need to explain why the books had a different effect on the fan base after his accident - Bev Vincent does it anyway, even in quotes from Stephen King. An attempt to explain the new king to the reader and even to protect him. And here it becomes clear how much the accident and its consequences had an impact on Stephen King's attitude to life and work. The press says he wants to stop writing. The outcry is huge. But King only means publishing so that he can no longer put himself under the pressure of having to publish a book every year. He didn't stick to it. He was able to overcome his alcohol addiction, but never his writing addiction.
Bev Vincent's book also offers many original sounds, mentions appearances on TV and radio, shows private photos, mentions cross-references in King's novels, explains inspiration in foreign novels such as Frankenstein, reports on film adaptations, podcasts, graphic novels, games, theater - I didn't know or had forgotten that Bruce Willis starred in the MISERY play many years ago.
This book also creates that: memory.
German fans, editions and rarities in the book?
The titles are all translated and read like the German book titles. On page 113, Stephen King looks through the German edition of the Heyne hardcover from ES. In the selection biography on page 222, a few German non-fiction books about Stephen King are listed - no, KRAG is not included and neither is our Heyne mini non-fiction book. It does not matter anyway. The German fan site about Stephen King, run by Klaus Spangenmacher among others, is listed. But that was it for the mentions of German King culture. And so the German editions from Joachim Körber's Edition Phantasia are missing from the chapter for King collectors.
This is not intended to be a criticism. Bev Vincent's non-fiction book sheds light on Stephen King's works and life in general - he cannot address all translations, fan clubs or non-fiction books from all countries.
Conclusion
Bev Vincent is an admirer of Stephen King, a fan, himself an author and insider who wrote “Stephen King – His Work, His Life, His Inspiration” with passion. A companion worth reading with old, well-known details, but also new, interesting details that show a likeable Stephen King and a passionate writer. Bev Vincent manages to awaken memories of old times and dares to look into the future. Thanks for that.
Bev Vincent's study of Stephen King's work and life fills a gap - and is a veritable cornucopia of secondary material
[machine translated from German]
Arno Schmidt, who admittedly has little in common with Stephen King (in the shop) apart from an impressive desk schedule , once announced that “a writer slowly dissolves into his works; It's better not to look at the shabby residue that remains." However, this advice is more aimed at the desired avoidance of wanting to physically examine a living author, because according to Schmidt it is also true that "at the latest 50 years after the death of a writer, his biography not only may appear, but must ! Nothing can be more important than making the large “brain animal” in question […] visible to us in every detail; so that we can find out on the basis of which mental and physical economy (or non=economy), on the basis of which dispositions and good (or bad) qualities and habits the relevant top performances were achieved […].”
The writer's biography can therefore look beyond the (in fact largely correct) "there's a guy sitting at the desk from morning to evening" at least to the private, biographical in the narrower sense, where the private is more or less directly linked to the work. And vice versa: Writing (like reading) is by no means something “unworldly,” removed from life, perhaps especially not if, like King, you are a popular author who is read by an extremely large number of people and who certainly has an influence on a lot of other biographies . It is not for nothing that the German edition of On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000), King's own book about his own work, is cleverly titled Life and Writing . (By the way: It was also extremely important to Arno Schmidt to entertain his reading public, even if a first glance at his books might not suggest that.)
Last year, Sven Hanuschek's Schmidt biography made the great brain animal visible to us in almost 1000 pages in all its details, thereby filling a gap. There is a similar gap in this country when it comes to Stephen King. Monographs, essays and interviews dedicated to him do appear from time to time, but they are either officially old and out of print (like George Beahm's Stephen King: Life and Work from 1995 and the conversation volume Angst pur from 1990, edited by Tim Underwood and Chuck Miller) or they are also aging then, when they are still relatively fresh, comparatively quickly (like Uwe Anton's Who's Afraid of Stephen King? from 2010) - simply because ten past years can be converted into around twenty new King books. The American author and literary critic Bev Vincent , whose pictorial biography The Stephen King Illustrated Companion is now fourteen years old, is also aware of this. Vincent therefore took King's 75th birthday last year as an opportunity to publish a significantly revised and expanded (= twice as extensive) new version of his accompanying book, the German edition of which is now finally available under the title “Stephen King . His work, his life, his inspiration” was published in the Zurich Edition Olms. The teaser text on the back cover promises a “reference work” as well as “numerous still unknown facts” even for die-hard King fans, and it doesn’t promise too much.
As part of his King research, Bev Vincent has dealt extensively with the novel series about Roland Deschain and his search for the Dark Tower: The Road to The Dark Tower was published in 2005 and The Dark Tower Companion in 2013 . He is included in the lovely volume Reading Stephen King , a collection of reading experiences by prominent constant reader kings such as Frank Darabont, Richard Chizmar, Jack Ketchum, Mick Garris and Clive Barker (published in 2017 by Cemetery Dance Publications, edited by Brian James Freeman) with an essay about Stephen King as a crime writer (“Living in a Web of Mystery”). The fact that he belongs to the inner circle of confidants is demonstrated not least by the weak-point-free short story anthology Flight and Fear (2019; in the shop) , air travel horror by Arthur Conan Doyle about Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury and others, which he and King curated together Joe Hill to Bev Vincent (“Zombies on a Plane”) and Stephen King (“An Expert in Turbulence”). In addition, he is now being interviewed not only about but even by Stephen King .
Vincent's large coffee table study provides impressive evidence that the author was granted generous access to King's private archives. In addition to the covers of original editions, the lavish visual material includes rarely or never-seen photos from all phases of life, typescripts of poems, letters to editors or fans, stills from film and television adaptations and handwritten items - of course always in the service of interlinking the personal and biographical with the literary Create. In the subtitle, the “work” wisely comes first; “Life” and “inspiration” (in the sense of the original language influences ) follow in the order that does justice to the concept of this illustrated biography as well as the dictum formulated in the introduction on page 9: “He [Stephen King] is sui generis , one Category of its own law.”
The major chapters generally move chronologically through the work in decade-long steps, i.e. along the books. If necessary, their genesis and peculiarities are supplemented with plenty of original audio from their author from numerous interview sources and biographical facts or anecdotes. More lavish inserts include King's poetry (a group of works that, all in all, is apparently not as narrow or clumsy as one might have thought), the author alter-ego Richard Bachman, the cycle of novels about the Dark Tower, the topographies of the repeated as The centers of King's world are the functioning fictional New England towns of Castle Rock and Derry, particularly spectacular and rare collector's editions or dedicated to the terrible accident that almost cost King his life in June 1999. The last-mentioned small chapter is a brilliant example of how Bev Vincent's gaze - despite the painfully drastic, detailed description of the consequences of the accident - never slips into the voyeuristic-tabloid style, but immediately focuses on the impact of such a drastic experience in the work.
In between, boxes provide information about King's editor Bill Thompson (who can safely be called his discoverer), the dark man Randall Flagg, the casual fun and charity band project Rock Bottom Remainders (co-founder Dave Barry describes the band's musical genre as " "hard to listen to"), the density of author characters in King's novels and short stories, the desire to experiment with publication formats, honors and prizes, the love of baseball, collaborative work (e.g. with Peter Straub, Richard Chizmar or his sons Owen and Joe) and King's side activities as a columnist and radio talk show host.
That's not all. Presumably even a number of the most loyal constant readers did not know that the martyred writer Paul Sheldon in the theater version of She materialized on stage in the physical form of Bruce Willis. They may have never read the rump novel The Cannibals , written in the 1980s and long thought lost by the author , whose first 120 pages were posted online . And this is probably the first time they've heard of the Polaroid photo of a teddy bear sent to King by a fan impatiently waiting for new Dark Tower novels, with the extortionate note: "Publish the next volume of The Dark Tower immediately, or The Bear Dies." Finally, it wouldn't have been inappropriate or overly submissive-panegyric to leave out the thing about Harold Bloom. "I don't find any aesthetic dignity in King's writing." In 2003, Stephen King was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Award, about which the great critic and canon fighter Bloom, who died in 2019, was terribly upset and saw the decision as “another low point in the shocking dumbing down of our cultural life.” In the same breath and wash, only four active American writers (Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, Cormac McCarthy and Philip Roth) are considered worth reading - thus revealing that it is actually not so much about King's books, but about everything in general Smells vaguely like popular culture, has nothing to do with it. Bev Vincent's built-in box texts "Harold Bloom about Stephen King" and "Stephen King about Harold Bloom" check the small affair (which at least brings up something much bigger, namely the exhaustingly stubborn resentment that so loves to pit high art against trash ) short and sweet, including King's genuinely relaxed reaction.
How early Stephen King started writing (already as a child), how much practice he had already gained by the time he wrote his debut novel Carrie , which is officially considered the starting point of his writing career, and therefore how his passion blossomed at a young age, including hers early on decision made to want to make a living from this passion (i.e.: to become a widely read, popular author); how much of his productivity, which remains undiminished to this day, can be traced back to ideas or rough drafts and first drafts from the 1970s: these are perhaps the two most astonishing revelations that this pictorial biography has to offer even to King omnivores. Later works such as The Arena (2009; in the shop) or The Anschlag (2011; in the shop) were also started or at least considered forty or fifty years ago, which is verified by King's statement in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 2015: “I I remember writing short stories and novels as a student […]. I felt like my head was going to explode. There were so many things I wanted to write about at the same time. I had so many ideas that were getting in each other’s way.”
This ultra-sweet and unpretentious written, bottomless cornucopia of King secondary material is concluded with a selected bibliography and three useful appendices; Notes and image credits are self-evident. In addition, the robust, easy-to-handle body of the book and the playful but never confusing design invite you to pull Bev Vincent's Stephen King off the shelf again and again. Add Dietmar Dath's Stephen King. 100 pages (Reclam 2022) aside, you already have a complete King handset on the table, a lot of fun, and you also know a lot more about how the “top performances in question” (see above) came about.
Bev Vincent: Stephen King. His work, his life, his inspiration • From American English by Michael Auwers • Edition Olms, Zurich 2023 • Hardcover • 240 pages • € 29.95
[machine translated]
Stephen King book reviews. The Complete Guide to Life... (1)
0 out of 0 people found the review helpful
“Be that as it may, this is why I write and read books. Good or bad, they help cheat time.”
Stephen King
Over a hundred novels, essays, collections of short stories, comics... Works translated into dozens of languages, millions of copies sold and eternal fame during his life along with priority in the genre's work, this is Stephen King. His latest novel, Holly, sold hundreds of thousands of copies in the United States alone even before its premiere, and despite the release of new books, TO, Pet Cemetery, and The Shining still remain on the bestseller lists. Cinema classics based on Mr. King's novels, such as The Green Mile or The Shawshank Redemption, are also very popular.
The eccentricity and originality that characterize this writer's works are certainly not to everyone's taste, but Stephen King has been the king of horror for many years. Many better and worse works have been written about Him. Despite the efforts of biographers, the author still remains surrounded by a note of mystery, and his house in Bangor, which was the inspiration for writing the novel Black House, attracts crowds of fans.
A lonely alcoholic, financially struggling while writing Carrie, which was to be a short story, fell into a state of nervous depression, it was His Wife who saved the publication from complete destruction, and she was right. Something that initially had a release bid of $2,500 is now fetching over half a million. How to write, the craftsman's diary was written under the influence of 24-hour alcohol intoxication, as King himself says: "I think I did quite well, considering how drunk I was at the time." He included his portrait as an alcoholic father in one of his novels, The Shining, which he did not admit for many years, even to himself.
Last month, Arkady Publishing House released something that is not a biography, but rather an album with Mr. King's biography attached. Stephen King's complete guide to life, work and inspiration. I don't like biographical books, they are usually collections of boring facts without any flair or imagination, but this book deserves attention and, in my opinion, it is the best edition about this writer.
Here we will find a cross-section of life, travels, ideas, addictions and creativity from early youth through the 1970s and 1980s to modern times. You will learn, for example, why Mr. King wrote Misery, you will read about fanatical people who desperately broke into the Kings' house to get an autograph, or about why it took the Author several years to write another book after the novel IT, and how it influenced his psyche. Many flavors and tidbits, curiosities, embarrassments, and the sincerity with which the Writer approached his addiction.
Arkady has made every effort to provide readers with not only exclusive binding, but also fantastic photos on first-class paper, which is what delights me the most. A photo of the Stratford, Connecticut Public Library, built around 1896, the inspiration for the Derry Public Library in the novel IT, is truly awe-inspiring. In general, you can find a lot about the book IT and everything related to it here, I think it's because this novel had a big impact on the author's psyche. Most importantly for me, this item includes my beloved Red Rose, the constantly expanding house of Ellen Rimbauer, the photos are simply brilliant.
Let's be honest, Stephen King's work will probably never be forgotten, even after his death. Therefore, for fans of both the author and the genre, Stephen King's complete guide to his life, work and inspirations is simply a must-have.
THE LIFE, WORKS AND INSPIRATIONS OF STEPHEN KING - BOOK REVIEW
[machine translated from Hungarian]
The life, works and inspirations of Stephen King egy detailed and thorough journey into the life and literary work of one of the most prolific and successful authors of our time. Bev Vincent's novel presents the man behind the nightmares in a way never seen before, who has captivated readers with his talent and style for decades.
Stephen King, the king of horror
Stephen King didn't get this nickname by chance (which is a pun on the name King, which means king in English ): during his career, he wrote 65 novels, and his books sold more than 350 million copies worldwide. In addition to these, he wrote another 200 short stories, which were usually published in collections.
In addition, he inspired other creators, including filmmakers, since his countless novels have been adapted into films (some of them more than one). According to estimates, King adaptations have brought in $1.7 billion so far. In fact, he holds a world record in this field: according to Guinness estimates, his literary works have been adapted the most often in the form of a series or film. The outsider , Under the hood , The dark tower , The story of Lisey and Mr. Harrigan's phone (one of the short stories in the Bloody collection) are just a few examples of the more than 50 adaptations.
Its popularity is due to several factors. Although everyone knows him in connection with horror books , King is actually not just trying to scare the reader. Prisoners of Hope , Death Row and The Body proved that Stephen King novels can be less terrifying and even fill you with hope. Supernatural horror shows the completely ordinary feelings of pain, suffering, and wonder. In addition, in recent decades, he has shown his talent in the genres of crime fiction, fantasy and science fiction.
In addition, it is also capable of creating great, iconic characters. Pennywise, Jack Torrance and Annie Wilkes are memorable and famous characters in horror literature and cinema. These characters terrify his audience, but they all bring the reader's nightmares in different ways and in their own way.
After this, there is no question that the life, works and inspirations of Stephen King is a worthy and deserved tribute to the king of horror.
The Life, Works and Inspirations of Stephen King
Behind the birth of the book The Life, Works and Inspirations of Stephen King is an extremely thorough research work. Vincent doesn't miss any important events in King's life, so readers can learn more about the events that influenced his work. The biographical sections are interesting and tell the story of his early years, greatest struggles and turning points. Goodreads and Amazon reviews tend to describe the work as a combination of autobiography, biography, and trivia.
Did you know, for example, that Stephen King's book It is one of the author's longest works with its 1,000 pages and more than 400,000 words? Or that Torture's protagonist, Annie Wilkes, is actually a metaphor for drugs, since King himself struggled with addiction while writing the novel? You can find similar interesting facts and behind-the-scenes stories in the pages of the book.
What sets this book apart from others in the genre is the emphasis on King's diverse body of work. Vincent thoroughly researches each novel and short story, briefly outlines their plots, analyzes them, and provides insight into King's inspirations. This allows new and old fans alike to appreciate the depth and development of the Stephen King books. Of course, the author introduces us to the recurring elements and motifs of the works, so we can see even more how talented the horror king is.
The novel also touches on film adaptations that have had a significant impact on popular culture. It's interesting how it compares the adaptation to the original material, and how it also traces the impact that cinema has had on King's legacy.
In addition to analyzing Stephen King's books, he gives a thorough account of the author's inspirations, which is essential if we want to get to know his work better. By getting to know the authors, events and personal experiences that shaped the horror author's books, we can get to know him as a person and his literary work at the same time.
Final thoughts
Although the book is a real goldmine for Stephen King's biggest fans. The eye-catching hardcover volume contains a lot of interesting things that even the author's most loyal readers may not have known. It is a missing work that should not be missing from the bookshelf of any Stephen King fan.
However, the work is also a great introduction for those who are just getting to know the author's work. The anecdotes about the birth of the various novels will certainly pique your interest, and while reading the book you will find yourself becoming a full-blooded King fan.
And if you haven't read anything by Stephen King yet, but you're a fan of horror, this book is a great opportunity to get to know one of the outstanding writers of your favorite genre better. Bev Vincent's style is engaging and jargon-free, making it an enjoyable read for a wide range of people.
The Life, Works and Inspirations of Stephen King is essential reading for anyone interested in the life and work of the iconic author. We can look into King's literary universe from a new angle, and thus it becomes even clearer how much influence he had on horror literature.
Compendium of Kingology - review of the book "Stephen King. The Complete Guide to Bev Vincent's Life, Work and Inspiration
(machine translated from Polish)
Bev Vincent "Stephen King. The Complete Guide to Life, Creativity and Inspiration. Wiesław Marcysiak, ed. Arcades
This lavishly published book has its own weight. And it's both about the importance of the volume itself and the facts collected inside. If you need a compendium of knowledge in the field of kingology in your life, it is here.
One can dwell for the thousandth time on how Stephen King revolutionized horror literature and made terrible stories crawl out of small-circulation fanzines to dominate the bestseller lists. However, it will be more rewarding to trace the path he traveled, tracking down inspirations, scattered juvenile or less known texts and life events that had an impact on his work. As long as you don't bore the reader with dry elaboration. This would be heresy towards the philosophy of the King of Horror himself.
Bev Vincent undoubtedly knows quite a lot about King, because he has already devoted several studies to the King of Horror. He is also not at odds with the art of creative writing - suffice it to mention that he co-edited with his master the anthology of short stories "Flight of Fright" ( published in Poland as "17 Sky Nightmares" ). He is the right man to write a similar compendium. And that it was needed is proven by the fact that the Polish translation is one of seven that the book has been translated within a year of its premiere.
The work done by Vincent is impressive. The meticulously recreated biography is the axis around which he analyzes the behind-the-scenes of the creation of subsequent books, stories and film adaptations. Even seasoned King experts may be surprised by some of the anecdotes, and what is particularly striking is how the writer turned seemingly irrelevant or bizarre ideas into plot gold. Everything is presented chronologically and clearly, but not without internal drama and room for breathing space, including: thanks to numerous appendices and visual materials (including fragments of manuscripts, correspondence and private photos).
Although the editors made some typos in some places, which is probably due to the quick editing, microscopic flaws do not spoil the overall picture. For fans of the most famous son of the state of Maine, "The Complete Guide..." will be a great addition to the bibliography, and - it goes without saying - an impressive gadget, perfect for displaying on a table in a guest room. So if you have someone in your family or among your friends who has breathlessly summarized the plot of "Holly" , I would like to remind you that the season of dusting off your stockings for gifts is beginning.
Sebastian Rerak
All in all, the book version of Stephen King 's life is an all-encompassing, meaningful, high-quality, and informative read that sums up the more than fifty years of the career of one of the best-known and most successful novelists alive today.
ベヴ・ヴィンセント (written by Bev Vincent)
著 風間 賢二 訳 (Translated by Kenji Kazama)
El título de Bev Vincent revela detalles inéditos del genio del terror
■Words of recommendation
Full of rare materials! I want to reread this and that. King's readers are happy people.
──Riku Onda
El ruido y la furia (y, después, aprobación crítica): las tres épocas de Stephen King
The Sound and the Fury (and Later, Critical Approval): The Three Eras of Stephen King
Few. Very, very few.
So don't look for objectivity, because I don't want objectivity. Steve was there when things went wrong, he was there when we found a way out, Steve was a refuge in sleepless mornings, he was a rest between study days, he was a rereading when rereading (the familiar, known pleasure of rereading) seemed like a board to hold on to so you wouldn't be swept away by the current.
Stephen King: Sveobuhvatno istraživanje njegovog rada, života i uticaja, Serbian (Vulkan), 2024; ISBN: 978-86-10-05147-6 --- translated by Vladimir Nikolic
스티븐 킹 마스터 클래스, Korean (황금가지 – The Golden Bough), August 9, 2024; ISBN: 9791170524281 — translated by Kang Kyung-ah