Apt Pupil | |
---|---|
Author | Stephen King |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre(s) | Psychological thriller |
Published in | Different Seasons |
Publisher | Viking Press |
Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
Publication date | 1982 |
Apt Pupil (1982) is a novella by Stephen King subtitled "Summer of Corruption", originally published in the 1982 novella collection Different Seasons with a more dramatic bent, rather than the horror fiction for which King is famous. [1] Apt Pupil consists of 30 chapters, many of which are headed by a month. Set in a fictional suburb of Southern California called "Santo Donato," the story unfolds over a period of about four years, with most of the action taking place during the first year and the last months. It is the only novella in Different Seasons to be narrated in the third person.
In 1974, Los Angeles teenager Todd Bowden arrives at the doorstep of elderly German immigrant Arthur Denker, accusing him of being wanted Nazi war criminal Kurt Dussander. The old man reluctantly acknowledges his true identity. Todd asks to hear detailed stories about his crimes, having recently become interested in the Holocaust. If Dussander refuses his demands, Todd will turn him over to the authorities. Over the next months, Todd visits Dussander daily under the pretext of reading to him, all the while badgering him into revealing more details of his atrocities. Todd soon forces Dussander to wear a replica SS Oberleutnants uniform and march on command.
Over time, Todd also begins to have nightmares and sees his grades slip. After being confronted by his father about his grades, he forges his report cards before giving them to his parents. Eventually, Todd finds himself in danger of failing several courses. Ed French, Todd's guidance counselor, requests an appointment with the Bowdens. Todd and Dussander concoct a ruse, having Dussander go to French's appointment while posing as Todd's grandfather, Victor. Dussander falsely claims that Todd's grades are the result of problems at home, and promises to make sure his grades improve; French notices Todd's "grandfather" does not mention him by name.
Knowing that Todd has been doctoring his report cards and knowingly socialized with a war criminal, Dussander blackmails him into spending his visits studying. Todd eventually manages to improve his schoolwork. Having no longer any use for Dussander, Todd resolves to kill him and make it look like an accident. Todd had earlier claimed to have given a letter about Dussander to a friend; if anything should happen to Todd, the letter will be sent to the authorities. However, before Todd can kill Dussander, the old man realizes Todd's intentions and claims to have written about Todd's involvement with him, and put his statement into a safe deposit box that will be found upon his death. Both Dussander and Todd are bluffing.
Over the next few months, Todd murders several homeless vagrants; he finds that committing murder helps with his nightmares. As years pass, his visits to Dussander become less frequent. He loses his virginity, but finds sex unsatisfying compared to the thrill of killing. He thinks his failure at sex is because his girlfriend is Jewish. When circumstances do not allow him to continue his killings, he picks a concealed spot overlooking the freeway and aims at people in passing cars with his hunting rifle. Dussander, suffering from his own nightmares, has also taken to killing the homeless, burying the bodies in his basement. Despite the link between them, Dussander and Todd are not immediately aware of each other's exploits.
One night when Dussander is digging a grave for his latest victim, he has a heart attack. He summons Todd, who buries the body and cleans up the crime scene before calling an ambulance. At the hospital, Dussander shares a room with Morris Heisel, an elderly Jewish man and Holocaust survivor who recognizes "Mr. Denker" but cannot place him. Todd eventually visits Dussander at the hospital. Dussander has read about the homeless men murdered by Todd and tells him not to get careless.
A few days later, Heisel realizes Denker is Dussander, the commandant of the camp where his wife and daughters were murdered in gas chambers. Israeli Nazi hunter Weiskopf visits Dussander, saying he has been found out. After Weiskopf leaves, Dussander steals drugs from the hospital dispensary and commits suicide. Police detective Richler, accompanied by Weiskopf, later interviews Todd. A vagrant later recognizes Todd as the last person seen with several of the homeless victims and notifies the police.
Meanwhile, French meets Todd's real grandfather, who bears no physical resemblance to Dussander. Suspicious, French checks Todd's old report cards, finding that they have been tampered with. Identifying Dussander as the man who he actually met, French confronts Todd, who responds by fatally shooting him. Todd's sanity breaks. He takes his rifle and ammunition to his hideout by the freeway and embarks on a shooting spree, resulting in his death at the hands of the authorities five hours later.
In 2023, the book was banned, in Clay County District Schools, Florida. [3]
Stephen Edwin King is an American author. Widely known for his horror novels, he has been crowned the "King of Horror". He has also explored other genres, among them suspense, crime, science-fiction, fantasy and mystery. Though known primarily for his novels, he has written approximately 200 short stories, most of which have been published in collections.
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Apt Pupil is a 1998 American thriller film directed by Bryan Singer and starring Ian McKellen and Brad Renfro. It is based on the 1982 novella of the same name by Stephen King. In the 1980s in southern California, high school student Todd Bowden (Renfro) discovers fugitive Nazi war criminal Kurt Dussander (McKellen) living in his neighborhood under the pseudonym Arthur Denker. Bowden, obsessed with Nazism and acts of the Holocaust, persuades Dussander to share his stories, and their relationship stirs malice in each of them.
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Blood Rage is a 1987 American slasher film directed by John Grissmer, written by Bruce Rubin, and starring Louise Lasser, Mark Soper, and Julie Gordon. Set on Thanksgiving, the film follows a woman and her adult son who are stalked at their remote apartment community by the son's unhinged twin brother who has escaped from a psychiatric institution after allegedly murdering a man years earlier.
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The Shining is an American opera in two acts and an epilogue, with music by composer Paul Moravec and a libretto by Mark Campbell, based on the 1977 novel by Stephen King. The opera received its world premiere on May 7, 2016 at the Ordway Music Theater, Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is part of the "New Works Initiative" of Minnesota Opera.
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The Shining is an American supernatural horror media franchise that originated from the 1977 novel of the same name by Stephen King. The novel was later adapted into a 1980 film and a 1997 television miniseries. King later wrote a 2013 sequel novel, Doctor Sleep, which was adapted to film in 2019.