Tracing The Trails Of The King : Stephen King In The Seventies

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So I realize that I’m backtracking somewhat, but it occurred to me that as the whole point of this project is to review Stephen Kings books as a progression through time, I should pause and take stock of certain periods of his publishing career.

Carrie was the book that launched both his career and this project, originally published in 1974. Considering Stephen King’s books in the seventies then would also include Salem’s Lot, The Shining, The Stand, Night Shift, The Dead Zone and we’ll say Firestarter, even though that was published in 1980. There are plenty of books to fill the roster of King’s eighties work and I think Firestarter fits more with his earlier phase of writing anyway.

To start, I’m not going to give a lot of attention to Night Shift. As I work though this project and do these larger essays looking over periods of his career as opposed to individual titles, I will probably be staying away from the short story collections. The reason for this is that in analyzing overarching themes in his writing over the course of a decade, it’s trickier to work in all of these little stories. Also, the publication date of the collection is not necessarily reflective of when the individual stories were written, just the year they were all compiled and published.

If I had to pick one common theme or plot device that seems to run through King’s books during this time period, it would definitely be characters with some kind of supernatural or telekinetic ability. First, we have Carrie White and her ability to move objects with her mind. Both Danny Torrence and Tom Cullen seem to share a level of foresight, or the ability to shine. Johnny Smith also has the ability to see the future, although it manifests in a much more specific way. And finally we have Charlie McGee and her pyrokinetic abilities.

Secondly, all of these characters with the exception of Johnny Smith are children. I would also make the argument what while Tom Cullen from The Stand is an adult, developmentally he is more of a child. Even Johnny Smith from the Dead Zone to some extent falls in this category as, even though he is quite a bit older, most of his adult life has been spent in a coma so experientially, he’s barely moved beyond his own childhood. 

There also seems to be a concerted effort to isolate these characters and put them on the run from either the surroundings they might once have found comfortable or from the long reaching grasp of some nefarious group, set on obtaining them like objects.

Carrie White is put on the outskirts of the towns social strata, simply for her mother’s religious zealousness. Add to this her telekinetic abilities and suddenly she becomes the town pariah, the monster that ends up hated by everyone.

Danny Torrence is isolated on multiple fronts, not just from being trapped in the middle of the Rocky Mountains but also from his parents who continue to try and figure out what is causing his emotional problems and apparent talents they can’t understand. He is progressively separated from his father who is in the fight of his life to preserve his sanity and his love for his family. In a way, as Danny is coming to terms with his own abilities, you could also make the argument that he is essentially isolated from himself.

Tom Cullen is physically isolated as the only remaining resident alive in the small town which Nick finds him in the Stand. He becomes further isolated and pursued as he is sent undercover, later in the book, into the heart of Randall Flagg’s territory as a spy. 

Johnny Smith is certainly isolated, by his own choosing, to stay free of the tabloids hunting him down as well as other people trying to obtain his help with whatever problems he might be able to fix. He is ultimately unable to stay free from the clutches of society around him but the initial isolation of his coma followed by the desired isolation during his recovery can’t be denied.

And of course, Charlie’s entire life is spent trying to stay free from agents of the Shop while keeping her father safe as well as people around them who might be hurt if she loses control of her abilities.

Salem’s Lot seems to be the lone holdout, the book that doesn’t really fall into these patterns but obviously you have to expect that there will be a few that break the mold somewhat. After all, I doubt that King entered the decade with a conscious idea as to what he was going to focus his writing on. I think it’s just that, as a writer you go through certain stages in what you are passionate about.

And Salem’s Lot does have some elements of what I’m talking about. The heroes of the story can certainly be seen as outsiders as the town falls more and more under the influence of the vampire Barlow. And two of the main characters of the book, Ben Mears and Susan Norton are certainly outcasts in their own right. Both of them have rejected the town of Jeruselam’s Lot in their own way in their desire to pursue their passions elsewhere.

For whatever reason, much of King’s writing in the seventies seem to be focused on young and powerful loners, struggling to figure out their own identity while staying away from extreme external pressures, whether they be supernatural or human in origin. I’m sure that on some level, a budding novelist trying to break out into this industry could sometimes feel like a rogue, trying as best he can to slip past all of his detractors in order to achieve respect and acclaim. Was King maybe inserting some of his own outlook into these characters, a metaphorical child himself in terms of where he was in his publishing career?

Along those lines, there is one other area of note I found interesting. King has been known for the characters in his books being writers, and this decade saw two in particular, Ben Mears (who I already mentioned above) and of course, Jack Torrence.

What I find interesting about the both of them is how they both seem to be dealing with fairly intense personal struggles, outsiders in their own right against the personal demons that hound them. Jack is struggling with his constant need for the booze and the chemical release. Mears is also struggling with his own past and the traumas he experienced as a child while inside the infamous Marsten house. In a way, these two authors are almost a kind of microcosm for many of King’s narrative devices for his other books during this time period.

I think this is a great period of King’s work, the early years when he really seemed to be going after his narrative style and voice. I think that we were still a few years away from having what I would call the King “brand” but almost every single one of these books were landmark pulications. Each novel has had multiple film adaptations, either on the big screen or in network mini-series format.

If I had to pick a favorite book from this time period, it would still be The Stand, with honorable mention probably going to The Shining. The Stand is one of my top King books, period as an amazing piece of epic, apocalyptic fiction. The Shining is just a fantastic work, both of paranormal and psychological horror. Firestarter is probably the one I like the least from this bunch, although this is one of those cases where you can toss a rock over your shoulder and pretty much always hit a book that’s going to be good.

So I suppose what I’m getting at is that I sit here, ecstatic that I chose to take on this project. In the interests of staying on top of the essays, I allowed myself to get quite a bit ahead in terms of my reading. As I write this, I have actually just finished the last of King’s eighties books and am preparing to start Four Past Midnight, his first book of the nineties.

And as another nice bi-product of doing this, I now own a ton of Stephen King books.

My name is Chad Clark and I am still proud to be a Constant Reader.

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