By Simran Kaur Wadhon
This author profile was written in August 2018 during the author's Modlingua internship.
When someone talks about horror short stories, novels and movies, one name that always comes to mind is Stephen King. King has given the worlds of literature and cinema great stories in the genres of contemporary horror, suspense and science fiction, publishing more than 50 novels and hundreds of short stories.
Early life
He was born on September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine. When Stephen was two years old, his father left the family, and he and his brother David were raised by their mother, Nellie Ruth, under great financial strain. He attended Durham Elementary School and graduated from Lisbon Falls High School, Maine. Since childhood, he read a lot of horror comics, and he started writing articles for Dave's Rag, the newspaper his brother published.
In 1966, King began his studies at the University of Maine, graduating in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. He wrote a column, Steve King's Garbage Truck, for the student newspaper and took part in various writing workshops. To support himself through his studies, he worked several jobs: janitor, gas station attendant and laundry worker.
First stories and the road to Carrie
His first published story was "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber", serialised over four issues of Comics Review in 1965 and later revised as "In a Half-World of Terror". In 1967, while still at the University of Maine, he sold his first professional short story, "The Glass Floor", to Startling Mystery Stories. After graduating, King could not find a teaching post, so he began his career by selling short stories to men's magazines such as Cavalier. In 1971, he married Tabitha Spruce, whom he had known since college, and that same year he was hired as a teacher at Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine, while continuing to write.
In 1973, King's first novel, Carrie, was accepted for publication. While writing the first draft, he was so dissatisfied with the storyline that he threw the draft away, unsure whether readers would accept his style. His wife retrieved the manuscript from the trash and encouraged him to finish it. Carrie became a big hit. Soon after its release in 1974, however, King's mother died, and around this time he developed a drinking problem. After his mother's death, King and his family moved to Boulder, Colorado, where he wrote The Shining (1977) and The Stand (1978). King also contributed to comics, writing part of a 1985 X-Men charity issue.
Major works
Stephen King's best-known novels include Carrie, The Shining, The Stand, It, Misery, The Green Mile, Rose Madder, The Long Walk, Desperation and 11/22/63. 'Salem's Lot (1975), Firestarter (1980), Cujo (1981), Joyland (2013) and Doctor Sleep (2013) are also bestsellers.
Why his work endures
The Shining is known worldwide for its intriguing plot and played a major role in making King a famous writer of horror thrillers; its film adaptation is considered a hallmark of the horror genre. It was another hit in his ascending career, adapted for screen more than once. In these frightening, peculiar novels, King highlights themes such as childhood trauma, memory and phobias. Many also know The Shawshank Redemption, the 1994 film nominated for several Academy Awards, which grew out of his novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, one of the most famous works of his career.
Conclusion
Stephen King is a writer who comes along once in a blue moon. His contribution to horror books and movies may never be matched, and the reasons for his success can be seen in his works and their film adaptations. As he wrote in Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: "Remember, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."
