HORROR: Reading Stephen King for the first time
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- Опубликовано: 31 май 2024
- Comparing Stephen King’s “On Slide Inn Road” and Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find."
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“On Slide Inn Road” is one of the short stories in Stephen King’s new collection YOU LIKE IT DARKER.
#HorrorMayhem
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Brilliant, Hannah! There’s no comparing King’s prose with Flannery O’Connor’s, but I do love that he is paying homage to her in his own way. Terrific video! 😊
Even if I never choose to read him again, I think he’ll always have a special place in my heart reserved for other FOC lovers!
@@HannahsBooks exactly! You know, I just wrote a comment on Olly’s channel in response to his Stephen King video where I said exactly that-that King will always have a special place in my heart! In my case it’s because I was able to use his novel The Green Mile to get kids who NEVER read (“reluctant readers” is the term in education-speak) to read, and they couldn’t put it down! Not at all the same, but still, it’s why he’s special to me even though I have a lot of trouble reading a lot of his books.
@@BookChatWithPat8668 What a wonderful story, Pat!
@@HannahsBooks 🥰
Hello Hannah, I loved this video. I’ve only read one or two Stephen, King books and don’t read horror. But I did listen to a good man is hard to find. I found it terrifying. I’m sure there are meanings I did not catch. I look forward to more of your analysis. Aloha friend.
Thanks, Marilyn! Aloha to you, too!
I haven't read the Stephen King story, but I found this an interesting video. I think King might be doing several things. 1) He is reversing the O'Connor ending, for those who have read both stories. 2) His story is a "revenge of the silent majority" story -- don't assume the middle class are pushovers or, by God, we'll kill you. 3) King is probably closer to the grandfather's age than the father's age, and this might be (as # 2 might be) wish-fulfillment. "My generation knows how to fight, and the younger generation is worthless."
None of these three things make King's story great. It sounds like this is not a horror story but rather wish-fulfillment of some kind, either class or age-driven.
To me, King's best horror short story is "The Monkey."
Thank you! I especially like your second point. And thank you for recommending The Monkey!
I was enjoying your description of A Good Man is Hard to Find so much halfway through the video that I decided to stop so I can read it without knowing too much!
I hope you enjoy it! I love her stories, but they are definitely a bit unsettling sometimes!
@@HannahsBooks I’m back after listening to A Good Man is Hard to Find on audio and I can’t believe I missed that you had your own video performance of it! I’ll have to go listen to it because I loved it so much. I’m glad to have the rest of the audiobook with more stories as well. I’m thinking I might’ve found a new favorite author. The wit and humor mixed with the darkness and tension, and the social and psychological sharpness is fantastic and intensely re-readable. I really enjoyed your discussion comparing it to King’s book and arguing why it’s superior. I definitely agree that what O’Connor presents is much more “horrific” and brutal.
@karlalikestoread I am so glad you are loving FOC! She’s strange and utterly compelling!
As I was reading 'On Slide Inn Road', I kept thinking, this seems familiar. As I got further in the story, I thought, I wonder if King realizes that he's so heavily influenced by Flannery O'Connor in this story. Then, of course, at the end, King gives credit, which thrilled me to no end.
Yes, indeed! I knew before reading King’s story that it had a connection to O’Connor, but I did not know it was deliberate and so extensive! Super cool!
This was fascinating. I haven't read King's story, but I think you make a strong case for O'Connor's qualifying as horror. It's certainly one of the most disturbing stories I've ever read, largely because of its complexity, as you pointed out.
I'm sure you've gotten this recommendation before, but if you're planning on exploring more horror literature I'd highly recommend The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson.
FOC definitely didn’t intend to be writing horror! But I think SK saw what I did: that there are horrific elements in her stories, but they are put to other uses. Thank you so much for putting SJ’s title before me again. I’ve read some of her non-horror stuff and Haunting might be an ideal choice for me if I try horror again.
King felt flat, which is how I’ve taken what little I’ve seen by him.
It is the only thing I've read, but flat is a great word for what I felt about his prose!
Fascinating video! Shamefully I’ve never read any O’Connor, I should put that right.
I’m still not sure you’ve read any horror though, I’d label the King story as crime/suspense, something he is writing more and more of these days.
Thanks, Olly! That this King story is crime/suspense instead of horror makes sense! I couldn’t quite imagine that this was what horror was! Could you recommend a good horror short story that might introduce me to the genre and yet not absolutely freak me out?
@@HannahsBooks this has proven a tantalising challenge! I think I’m going to suggest The Color Out of Space by HP Lovecraft- not too intense, quite short and readily available
@CriminOllyBlog Thank you so much, Olly!
@@HannahsBooks if you’ve haven’t read his short adult fiction I’d also strongly recommend Roald Dahl - The Man from the South in particular
@CriminOllyBlog Thanks! I didn’t even realize he wrote adult fiction!
I think you're quite wrong to class FOC's story as horror, brutal and violent yes, but not horror. FOC pussy-foots around the violent acts right up until the very end when the occupants of the second car come walking down the hill and even at that moment she's crated very little tension, not much awareness of dread, hardly even any uneasiness. Only when the first violent act (safely hidden from view inside the forest) occurs do we start to feel any sense of disquietude. Whereas with SK, there's never any doubt where the story is going to lead, he puts it plainly there on paper, you read it, buy into it and enter a world of anticipation and apprehension and in some of his works, terror. And as with the baseball bat, it's in your face.
Comparing these two stories, holding up the SK one to the light of FOC is unfair when you, me and SK all know that he isn't writing an original here, nor is he writing from the same place, culture or time, nor with the same intended audience.
FOC was good at telling stories about the South, SK just doesn't go there and why should he when he can draw you into an expertly woven horror such as Desperation, Insomnia or the Shining.
I absolutely did not intend to class FOC as a horror writer! I said in a very recent video that I assumed she was (back when I was in high school) and only realized my mistake about her intentions when I read her letters (when I was about 21yo). Obviously I wasn’t nearly clear enough in this video! My apologies. And I hear your comment about it being unfair of me to compare the value of these two stories-and I think you’re right. I wanted to compare what they were doing because I was fascinated by their different choices, and I was so tickled to see SK paying homage to FOC. I didn’t intend to compare their VALUE, but my response tumbled out, partly because I was so disappointed by the ending of SK’s story. Perhaps if I knew more about King’s work and about the genres in which he writes, I would have been able to account for some of what you’re saying. I guess this is one of the problems with talking about books very much out of our comfort zones! Thank you for your thoughtful comment.
That was great. You have to wonder at King’s ego in even trying to pay homage to one of the greats and one of her greatest I think.
Honestly, I was loving the idea of him reconceptualizing her take on it--until I got to the end and felt so disappointed...
I guess when you've sold over 400 million books, you start to think you might be on a par with some of the great writers. Ego.
@@LiterateTexan Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery-and choosing to imitate doesn’t necessarily mean the imitator thinks he’s just as good. But it does mean readers are likely to compare their talents!
@HannahsBooks True that. I know King admires Flannery O'Connor greatly. I enjoyed the story. It was a nice change of pace from the other stories in the volume.
In terms of ego, I think King knows that he can do what he will and fans will follow. Many years ago, I took a "staycation." Every afternoon I would go to a nearby cafe and have lunch. I always had a book with me. The first week I read "The Search For God at Harvard." Both on my walk to the cafe and when I had lunch, people would look at the book and say nothing. The second week I read the copy of 'Salem's Lot" that a friend had given me for my birthday. People seemed to appear from nowhere. They talked to me excitedly either about how much they loved "Salem's Lot" or how much they loved King. I was given many, many King book recommendations. This happened every time I had the book out in public. I was surprised and I must say a little in awe of the number of people who approached me and the zeal with which they discussed him. Of course, Flannery O'Connor is by far the better writer. However, I can never quite dismiss anyone who has kept such a large and devoted fans for so long.