Memory (Stephen King)

Last updated
"Memory"
Short story by Stephen King
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s) Short story
Publication
Published in Tin House
Media typePrint
Publication date 2006
Chronology
Arrleft.svg 
The Things They Left Behind
 Arrright.svg
Willa

"Memory" is a short story by Stephen King, originally published in 2006. It was the basis for King's 2008 novel Duma Key .

Contents

Plot summary

Edgar Freemantle is the millionaire owner of The Freemantle Company, a Minnesota-based general contractor. While visiting a construction site, he is severely injured in an accident that sees him lose most of his right arm, break multiple bones, and lose part of the vision in his right eye. Freemantle suffers from amnesia and mood swings, leading to the end of his marriage six months following the accident.

After Freemantle begins contemplating suicide, his psychologist Dr Xander Kamen encourages him to resume his childhood hobby of sketching. While convalescing by Lake Phalen, Freemantle witnesses a car accident in which his neighbor's dog, "Gandalf", is struck by a car. Realizing Gandalf is fatally injured, Freemantle channels memories of his own accident, which inexplicably gives him the strength to euthanise the dog using his left arm. When Freemantle discusses the incident with Kamen, Kamen tells him that "it's the bad memories that wear thin first [then] they tear open and let the light through". [1]

Publication

"Memory" was originally published in volume 7, number 4 of Tin House in summer 2006. It was republished as an annex to the 2007 work Blaze , which King published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. King went on to adapt "Memory" into a novel, Duma Key , which was published in 2008. [2] [3]

King read "Memory" during the "Seven Days of Opening Nights" event at Florida State University on February 26, 2006, where he became a guest speaker after filling in for Richard Russo when he was unable to attend. [3] King explained that the story was partially inspired by his 1999 car accident and how much of the incident he could and could not remember.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen King</span> American writer (born 1947)

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.

<i>The Lord of the Rings</i> 1954–1955 fantasy novel by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book The Hobbit but eventually developed into a much larger work. Written in stages between 1937 and 1949, The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling books ever written, with over 150 million copies sold.

<i>Dolores Claiborne</i> 1992 novel by Stephen King

Dolores Claiborne is a 1992 psychological thriller novel by Stephen King. The novel is narrated by the title character. Atypically for a King novel, it has no chapters, double-spacing between paragraphs, or other section breaks; thus, the text is a single continuous narrative, which reads like the transcription of a spoken monologue. It was the best-selling novel of 1992 in the United States. The story introduced the fictional community of Little Tall Island, which Stephen King later used as the setting for the original TV mini-series Storm of the Century.

<i>Four Past Midnight</i> 1990 novella collection by Stephen King

Four Past Midnight is a collection of novellas written by Stephen King in 1988 and 1989 and published in August 1990. It is his second book of this type, the first one being Different Seasons. The collection won the Bram Stoker Award in 1990 for Best Collection and was nominated for a Locus Award in 1991. In the introduction, King says that, while a collection of four novellas like Different Seasons, this book is more strictly horror with elements of the supernatural.

<i>Dreamcatcher</i> (novel) 2001 novel by Stephen King

Dreamcatcher is a 2001 science fiction horror novel by American writer Stephen King, featuring elements of body horror, suspense and alien invasion. The book, written in longhand, helped the author recuperate from a 1999 car accident, and was completed in half a year. According to the author in his afterword, the working title was Cancer. His wife, Tabitha King, persuaded him to change the title. A film adaptation was released in 2003.

<i>Cujo</i> Novel by Stephen King

Cujo is a 1981 horror novel by American writer Stephen King about a rabid Saint Bernard. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982 and was made into a film in 1983. Cujo's name was based on the alias of Willie Wolfe, one of the men responsible for orchestrating Patty Hearst's kidnapping and indoctrination into the Symbionese Liberation Army. King discusses Cujo in On Writing, referring to it as a novel he "barely remembers writing at all." King wrote the book during the height of his struggle with alcohol addiction. King goes on to say he likes the book and wishes he could remember enjoying the good parts as he put them on the page.

<i>Christine</i> (King novel) 1983 novel by Stephen King

Christine is a horror novel by American writer Stephen King, published in 1983. It tells the story of a car apparently possessed by malevolent supernatural forces. In April 2013, PS Publishing released Christine in a limited 30th Anniversary Edition.

<i>Misery</i> (novel) 1987 novel by Stephen King

Misery is an American psychological horror novel written by Stephen King and first published by Viking Press on June 8, 1987. The novel's narrative is based on the relationship of its two main characters – the romance novelist Paul Sheldon and his deranged self-proclaimed number one fan Annie Wilkes. When Paul is seriously injured following a car accident, former nurse Annie brings him to her home, where Paul receives treatment and doses of pain medication. Paul realizes that he is a prisoner and is forced to indulge his captor's whims.

<i>The Dead Zone</i> (film) 1983 film by David Cronenberg

The Dead Zone is a 1983 American science fiction thriller film directed by David Cronenberg. The screenplay, by Jeffrey Boam, is based on the 1979 novel of the same title by Stephen King. The film stars Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom, Martin Sheen, Anthony Zerbe, and Colleen Dewhurst. Walken plays a schoolteacher, Johnny Smith, who awakens from a coma to find he has psychic powers. The film received positive reviews. The novel also inspired a television series of the same name in the early 2000s, starring Anthony Michael Hall, the pilot episode of which borrowed some ideas and changes used in the 1983 film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan D. Vinge</span> American science fiction author (born 1948)

Joan D. Vinge is an American science fiction author. She is known for her Hugo Award–winning novel The Snow Queen and its sequels, her series about the telepath named Cat, and her Heaven's Chronicles books. She also is the author of The Random House Book of Greek Myths (1999).

<i>Needful Things</i> Novel by Stephen King

Needful Things is a 1991 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It is the first novel King wrote after his rehabilitation from drug and alcohol addiction. It was made into a film of the same name in 1993 which was directed by Fraser C. Heston. The story focuses on a shop that sells collectibles and antiques, managed by Leland Gaunt, a new arrival to the town of Castle Rock, Maine, the setting of many King stories. Gaunt often asks customers to perform a prank or mysterious deed in exchange for the item they are drawn to. As time goes by, the many deeds and pranks lead to increasing aggression among the townspeople, as well as chaos and death. A protagonist of the book is Alan Pangborn, previously seen in Stephen King's novel The Dark Half.

"Strawberry Spring" is a horror short story by Stephen King. It was originally published in the Fall 1968 issue of Ubris magazine, then republished in the November 1975 issue of Cavalier magazine, and, heavily revised, collected in King's Night Shift in 1978.

<i>Duma Key</i> Novel by Stephen King

Duma Key is a horror novel by American writer Stephen King published on January 22, 2008, by Scribner. The book reached No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. It is King's first novel to be set in Florida, as well as the first to be set in Minnesota. The dust jacket features holographic lettering.

<i>Blaze</i> (novel) 2007 novel by Stephen King

Blaze is a novel by American writer Stephen King, published under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. King announced on his website that he "found it" in an attic. As stated in the afterword of Different Seasons, it was written before Carrie. King offered the original draft of the novel to his Doubleday publishers at the same time as 'Salem's Lot; the latter was chosen to be his second novel and Blaze became a "trunk novel." King rewrote the manuscript, editing out much of what he perceived as over-sentimentality in the original text, and offered the book for publication in 2007. The book also has an annex containing "Memory", a short story that was first published in 2006 and which King has since worked into Duma Key.

"The Cat from Hell" is a horror short story by American writer Stephen King. King initially published the first 500 words of the story in March 1977 in Cavalier, and the magazine held a contest for readers to finish the story. The winning entry, as well as King's complete story, was published in the magazine in June of the same year. It also appeared in Gent Vol. 18 #6, credited to King and Marc Rains. King revised the story and it was reprinted in Tales of Unknown Horror (1978), in Year's Finest Fantasy (1978), in Magicats! (1984), and again in Twists of the Tale: An Anthology of Cat Horror (1996). This story was also adapted to film in the anthology film Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990). It was later reprinted as a bonus story in the paperback edition of Duma Key and again in Just After Sunset, Stephen King's fifth collection of short stories.

<i>The Dead Zone</i> (novel) 1979 novel by Stephen King

The Dead Zone is a science fiction thriller novel by Stephen King published in 1979. The story follows Johnny Smith, who awakens from a coma of nearly five years and, apparently as a result of brain damage, now experiences clairvoyant and precognitive visions triggered by touch. When some information is blocked from his perception, Johnny refers to that information as being trapped in the part of his brain that is permanently damaged, "the dead zone." The novel also follows a serial killer in Castle Rock, and the life of rising politician Greg Stillson, both of whom are evils Johnny must eventually face.

According to books by Tyson Blue, Stephen J. Spignesi, and Rocky Wood et al., there are numerous unpublished works by Stephen King that have come to light throughout King's career. These allegedly include novels and short stories, most of which remain unfinished. Most are stored among Stephen King's papers in the special collections of the Raymond H. Fogler Library at the University of Maine, some of which are freely accessible to the library's visitors. However, others require King's permission to read. Additionally, there are a number of uncollected short stories, published throughout King's long career in various anthologies and periodicals, that have never been published in a King collection.

"Summer Thunder" is a horror short story written by American author Stephen King. First published in Turn Down the Lights in 2013, it was collected in King's 2015 short story collection The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.

<i>Later</i> (novel) 2021 novel by Stephen King

Later is a crime/horror novel written by American author Stephen King, published on March 2, 2021, by Hard Case Crime. The book is available in paperback format with a limited hardcover release. The paperback edition features cover art by Paul Mann, and the limited hardcover features cover art by Gregory Manchess. The 7 hour audiobook is read by Seth Numrich. This is King's third published work with Hard Case Crime, following the release of The Colorado Kid and Joyland.

Rattlesnakes is a novella by Stephen King, first published in 2024 as part of King's collection You Like It Darker. It is a sequel to King's 1981 novel Cujo, reintroducing the character of Vic Trenton.

References

  1. King, Stephen (2006). "Memory". In McCormack, Win (ed.). Tin House: Summer Reading. Tin House Books. ISBN   978-0-9773-1273-3.
  2. Wood, Rocky (2017). Stephen King: A Literary Companion. McFarland & Company. p. 122. ISBN   978-0-7864-8546-8.
  3. 1 2 Simpson, Paul (2014). A Brief Guide to Stephen King. Hachette UK. ISBN   978-1-4721-1074-9.

See also