The Shining
January 6th 2008 11:23
I just read the Shining by Stephen King, the first of his books I have read despite him being an incredibly prolific and popular author. I have previously seen the Stanley Kubrik film of the same name, which is based on the book but as always in screen adaptions, varies markedly in several respects.
It is almost an insult to describe the novel as simply 'horror', it is suspenseful and frightening to the extent that a book can be, in what evolves as an increasingly supernatural setting. It is constrcuted with immense skill and is a compelling read. Replete with metaphors and symbolism, with some of the more obvious and thematic examples including:
The boiler in the Overlook Hotel - a metaphor for Jack Torrance's temper and inexorable journey towards self destruction.
The 1945 masked ball - a metaphor for the mask Jack's ultimately vain attempts to disguise his true impulses towards violence and alcoholism.
The refrain of the masked ball guests, they now being the manifestation of evil which occupies the hotel, when the clock strikes midnight - a metaphor for their own, eventually successful, desire to unmask Jack and unleash his inner demons.
The wasp nest, which Jack attempts to destroy unsuccesfully at first and which then mysteriously bursts to life with wasps attacking his son Danny during the night, and its subsequent destruction by fire - metaphor for the Overlook Hotel itself and the demonic, dangerous forces that occupy it.
Similarly, the wasps nest his alcoholic father destroyed as a child and Jack's vivid memory of this is poignant in light of the explosive conclusion of the novel and the fate of the hotel, remember his father's observation, 'fire kills everything'.
Aside from the symbolism, the narrative is just a damn good yarn, which probably explains why I read it in less than a week (record time for me).
Given the book's popularity over approximately three decades and its recent appearance on the 3 for 2 desk at Borders (where I got it) some other readers have no doubt been left with other impressions and thoughts.
It is almost an insult to describe the novel as simply 'horror', it is suspenseful and frightening to the extent that a book can be, in what evolves as an increasingly supernatural setting. It is constrcuted with immense skill and is a compelling read. Replete with metaphors and symbolism, with some of the more obvious and thematic examples including:
The boiler in the Overlook Hotel - a metaphor for Jack Torrance's temper and inexorable journey towards self destruction.
The 1945 masked ball - a metaphor for the mask Jack's ultimately vain attempts to disguise his true impulses towards violence and alcoholism.
The refrain of the masked ball guests, they now being the manifestation of evil which occupies the hotel, when the clock strikes midnight - a metaphor for their own, eventually successful, desire to unmask Jack and unleash his inner demons.
The wasp nest, which Jack attempts to destroy unsuccesfully at first and which then mysteriously bursts to life with wasps attacking his son Danny during the night, and its subsequent destruction by fire - metaphor for the Overlook Hotel itself and the demonic, dangerous forces that occupy it.
Similarly, the wasps nest his alcoholic father destroyed as a child and Jack's vivid memory of this is poignant in light of the explosive conclusion of the novel and the fate of the hotel, remember his father's observation, 'fire kills everything'.
Aside from the symbolism, the narrative is just a damn good yarn, which probably explains why I read it in less than a week (record time for me).
Given the book's popularity over approximately three decades and its recent appearance on the 3 for 2 desk at Borders (where I got it) some other readers have no doubt been left with other impressions and thoughts.
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