Monsters in the Archive: My Year of Fear with Stephen King by Caroline Bicks
Big thanks to Random House and
NetGalley for the advanced copy of Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King by the inaugural Stephen E. King Chair in Literature at
the University of Maine Caroline Bicks. I was so excited to find this book, and
Bick’s close analysis of the early works of Stephen King does not disappoint. Like
a lot of more recent literary case studies, the book blends memoir, biography,
and close readings of King’s early works to further make the case that King deserves
a place in the American literary cannon, if not his own unique shelf where he
has reinvented the horror genre for several generations of readers (and movie
viewers). While there are some books that address King’s importance in horror and
make the case for his importance in literature, Bicks has the unique position of
the endowed Stephen E. King Chair in Literature at King’s alma mater, the University
of Maine, which also grants her access to King’s archives. For me, this was one
of the best aspects of this book- Bick’s analysis of multiple drafts of King’s early
works, and especially close readings of the diction and word choice that helps to
further ratchet up the fear factor in King’s writing. While many people focus
on either the terrifying plots and the iconically evil villains, Bicks takes a
different approach and examines how authorial choices through revised drafts
help King create an atmosphere of terror and horror that has struck and stuck
with many readers for years.
Like Bicks, I also first
encountered King in my adolescence, thanks to one of my all-time favorite
teachers in 6th grade, Mrs. Kane. I think that we read “The Boogeyman,”
which Bicks spends some time reminiscing in fear about; and yet, she also has a
great analysis of the story, examining not only the choice to make the boogeyman
at the end more of a scarecrow-like figure who emerges from the closet of a
psychiatrist’s office, but also connecting this use of the scarecrow imagery
with her own experiences of The Wizard of Oz as a calming book that
deals with the terrors of transitions and uncertainty, as well as identifying
some other works from King’s oeuvre that apply this same imagery (most notably Pet
Semetary). I’ve always noticed some similar thematic elements among King’s
works, especially with kids experiencing uncertainty and danger. It’s probably
one of the things that attracted me to his stories and books in early
adolescence. However, Bicks’ analysis and close reads allow us to interrogate
some of these authorial choices to gain new insights into King’s influences and
ideas for impacting readers. Bicks is also a Shakespeare scholar by training,
so much of her analyses tie in Shakespeare’s influence on King’s early works.
Again, this was a fascinating element of the book, especially considering Bicks’
previous work on female adolescence and Shakespearean characters, including
Juliet and Ophelia. She provides a brief summary of her work, which focused on
the change of cognition that girls experience during adolescence, and how these
adolescent characters demonstrate those new powers in reasoning. For this book,
Bicks then connects Carrie White’s development of her psychic powers with the
onset of her adolescence. What was most fascinating was the changes that occurred
in drafts as King had Carrie undergoing a kind of physical transformation into
more of a brain with horns housed in a membrane-like sack. There are some other
surprising changes that emerged from the first draft that impact not only the
story, but also the significance of Carrie’s impact on our collective
consciousness. Bicks leaves readers to wonder how these changes might have
affected the cultural resonance that Carrie elicited if they were not changed
due to the suggestions of King’s editor. Although it’s the last book she
focuses on, the chapter on Carrie has stuck with me because, as Bicks
notes, its such a relevant story that all of us have experienced in one way or
another—being dissatisfied with our bodies during adolescence, and yet also
being intrigued by the changes; facing bullies and other cruel peers, and
trying to navigate the confusing social dynamics of high school. Interestingly,
Bicks notes where changes in drafts shifted from the kind of alien-like
physical transformation that Carrie experiences to one that is more princess
and storybook-like, which it seems had a greater resonance with the public.
Other chapters focused on other
early King works and made additional, thoughtful analyses and connections with
other Shakespearean works like how The Shining shares themes and imagery
similar to Hamlet and Macbeth. I found these angles so interesting
to consider since Shakespeare does include some supernatural and horror,
especially murder (murder most foul). While The Shining can be
considered a haunted house-type story, it’s also a story about murdered and
murderous fathers, like Hamlet, and the struggles of the sons to cope
with the sins or absences of the fathers. Similarly, it’s the woman in 217,
whose witchy like appearance to both Danny and Jack Torrance pushed the action
towards the climax in the novel. I also enjoyed learning that King developed The
Shining as a kind of play in 5 acts, plotting out the scenes in the form of
a 5 act Shakespearean tragedy. Additionally, I was surprised to see how Carrie
White’s last thoughts resembled those of Macbeth’s famous last lines about the
futility of life. This was another fascinating element of the book- to learn
more about King’s writing and drafting process, and gain insight into how his work
becomes even more frightening, but also even more resonant with the public and in
some ways the cultural consciousness, and how he borrows from other great
writers, but still finds a way to make the language and ideas his own. Throughout
the book, Bicks notes these connections with Shakespeare’s timeless themes and
characters and how King’s characters face similar challenges and themes,
although often in a more supernatural and horrifying tableau.
Beyond the historical and
literary, Bicks also connects these stories to King’s own life and experiences,
often taking readers back to his early days as a recent college graduate,
teaching at a high school while caring for 2 young children with his wife Tabitha,
while writing and selling stories at night. Bicks also references the well-known
backstory to Carrie where Tabitha King rescued an early draft from the
trash and encouraged King to return to it. Similarly, we learn that some of the
influence on Pet Semetary came from King’s experience with a rented house
near a major highway where his young children would often play near. The
chapter on Salem’s Lot, a vampire story where a writer returns to his
home town to confront some of his earliest fears, has a connection to King’s
own hometown. This chapter was also interesting to think about how Salem’s
Lot is an novel about a small American town. Bicks presents a similar idea
about Carrie, when she noted that the earlier drafts had Carrie
happening around Boston. It was King’s editor who encouraged him to set the
book in Maine.
This was an awesome book! I loved
that Bicks not only makes some really interesting literary hypotheses about
some of these important, early King works, but that she also makes the case
that King’s use of some of the deepest, darkest human emotions (“These violent
delights have violent ends”) to connect with readers in much the same way that
Shakespeare appealed to audiences through these plays that evoked such emotion.
However, what really stands out in Bicks’ analysis is not just the focus on
plot, but on the language that King uses (“Words, words, words.”), and how “he
[Shakespeare] could capture an idea or an emotion by mobilizing he sounds,
rhythms, and meaning of words, creating clusters and patterns that work their
way into my mind.” Although she is referring to Shakespeare in the quote, she
applies the same analysis to King’s work, especially in Pet Semetary,
where she analyzes the draft changes to examine how King’s use onomatopoetic language
helps to evoke more than sound imagery, but also gives us a tactile and kinetic
feel for the scene, as if we are there with Louis Creed in the graveyard. This
is truly a wonderful book, especially for Stephen King fans, but also for writers
and artists. It’s a close look at an important American writer, and probably
the most important horror author of the last 150 years. In her analysis, Bicks helps
to elevate King into the literary cannon, something he’s not always included in.
This is not only a great read, but it’s also educational—it’s like taking a
course on King and revisiting some of these great novels and stories, but also
reassessing and gaining new perspectives on these works. Bicks’ ideas,
observations, and hypotheses have definitely opened my eyes up to looking at
King (and Shakespeare) in new ways. Highly recommended!
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