The Shining is a 1977 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It is King's third published novel and first hardcover bestseller; its success firmly established King as a preeminent author in the horror genre. The setting and characters are influenced by King's personal experiences, including both his visit to The Stanley Hotel in 1974 and his struggle with alcoholism. The novel was adapted into a 1980 film and a 1997 miniseries. The book was followed by a sequel, Doctor Sleep, published in 2013, which in turn was adapted into a 2019 film Doctor Sleep.
The Shining centers on Jack Torrance, a struggling writer and recovering alcoholic who accepts a position as the off-season caretaker of the historic Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies. His family accompanies him on this job, including his young son, Danny, who possesses "the shining", an array of psychic abilities that allow the child to glimpse the hotel's horrific true nature. Soon, after a winter storm leaves the family snowbound, the supernatural forces inhabiting the hotel influence Jack's sanity, leaving his wife and son in grave danger.
Plot
Jack Torrance, an aspiring writer,[1] is hired as the winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel, an isolated resort hotel in the Colorado Rockies. Jack is a recovering alcoholic with anger issues which, prior to the story, had caused him to accidentally break his son Danny's arm and lose a teaching job after assaulting a student. Jack hopes that the hotel's seclusion will help him reconnect with Danny and his wife, Wendy, and give him the motivation needed to work on a play.
Unknown to his parents, Danny possesses psychic abilities referred to as "shining", which include reading minds, premonitions and clairvoyance. While moving into the hotel on closing day, the Torrances meet the chef, Dick Hallorann, who possesses similar abilities to Danny's and forms a connection with him.[2]
As the Torrances settle in alone at the Overlook, Danny sees ghosts and frightening visions. Danny does not tell either of his parents about his visions because he senses that the caretaking job is important to his father and dissuades Wendy from leaving Jack at the Overlook by himself. However, Danny soon realizes that his presence in the hotel makes the supernatural activity more powerful, turning echoes of past tragedies from the hotel's history into dangerous threats. Apparitions take solid form and the garden's topiary animals come to life. The winter snowfall leaves the Torrances cut off from the outside world.
The Overlook has difficulty possessing Danny, so it turns its attention to Jack by frustrating his desire to work and by enticing him with the dark history of the hotel through a scrapbook in the basement. Jack starts to develop cabin fever and becomes increasingly unstable, destroying a two-way radio and sabotaging a snowmobile, the family's only means of escape. After a fight with Wendy, Jack sees the hotel's bar fully stocked with liquor despite being previously empty and finds himself attending a party of ghosts. As he gets drunk, the hotel uses the ghost of Delbert Grady, a previous caretaker who murdered his family, to urge Jack to do the same to Danny and Wendy. He initially resists but ultimately succumbs to his dark side and the hotel.[3][4]
Wendy and Danny get the better of Jack after he attacks Wendy, locking him inside the pantry, but Grady's ghost releases him after he makes Jack promise to bring him Danny and kill Wendy. Jack attacks Wendy with one of the hotel's roque mallets, seriously injuring her, but she escapes to the caretaker's suite and locks herself in the bathroom. Jack attempts to break the door with the mallet, but Wendy slashes his hand with a razor blade to deter him. Meanwhile, Hallorann, having received a psychic distress call from Danny while working at a winter resort in Florida, rushes back to the Overlook, only to be attacked by the topiary animals and severely injured by Jack.
As Jack pursues Danny through the hotel and corners him on the top floor, he briefly gains control of himself and implores Danny to flee. The hotel quickly retakes control of Jack, making him violently batter his own face and skull into ruin with the mallet, leaving his body under the hotel's control. Remembering that Jack has neglected to relieve the pressure on the hotel's unstable boiler, Danny informs the hotel that it is about to explode. As Danny, Wendy, and Hallorann flee, the hotel-creature rushes to the basement in an attempt to vent the pressure, but it is too late. The boiler explodes, killing Jack and destroying the Overlook. Fighting off a last attempt by the hotel to possess him, Hallorann guides Danny and Wendy to safety.
The book's epilogue is set during the next summer. Hallorann, who has taken a chef's job at a resort in Maine, comforts Danny over the loss of his father as Wendy recuperates from the injuries Jack inflicted on her.
Background
The Stanley Hotel, which hosted King in 1974, served as the inspiration for the Overlook Hotel.
After writing Carrie and 'Salem's Lot, which are both set in small towns in King's native Maine, King was looking for a change of pace for his next book: "I wanted to spend a year away from Maine so that my next novel would have a different sort of background".[5] King opened an atlas of the United States on his kitchen table and randomly pointed to a location, which turned out to be Boulder, Colorado.[6]
On October 30, 1974,[7] King and his wife Tabitha checked into The Stanley Hotel in nearby Estes Park, Colorado. They were the only two guests in the hotel that night: "When we arrived, they were just getting ready to close for the season, and we found ourselves the only guests in the place — with all those long, empty corridors".[5]
Ten years earlier, King had read Ray Bradbury's 1950 short story "The Veldt" and was inspired to write a story about a person whose dreams would become real. In 1972, King started a novel entitled Darkshine, which was to be about a psychic boy in a psychic amusement park, but the idea never came to fruition and he abandoned the book. During the night at the Stanley, this story came back to him.[8]
King and his wife had dinner that evening in the grand dining room, totally alone. They were offered one choice for dinner, the only meal still available. Taped orchestral music played in the room and theirs was the only table set for dining: "Except for our table all the chairs were up on the tables. So the music is echoing down the hall, and, I mean, it was like God had put me there to hear that and see those things. And by the time I went to bed that night, I had the whole book in my mind".[9] After dinner, his wife decided to turn in, but King took a walk around the empty hotel. He ended up in the bar and was served drinks by a bartender named Grady.[7]
In King's words: "That night I dreamed of my three-year-old son running through the corridors, looking back over his shoulder, eyes wide, screaming. He was being chased by a fire-hose. I woke up with a tremendous jerk, sweating all over, within an inch of falling out of bed. I got up, lit a cigarette, sat in a chair looking out the window at the Rockies, and by the time the cigarette was done, I had the bones of the book firmly set in my mind".[6]
Sometimes you confess. You always hide what you're confessing to. That's one of the reasons why you make up the story. When I wrote The Shining, for instance, the protagonist of The Shining is a man who has broken his son's arm, who has a history of child beating, who is beaten himself. And as a young father with two children, I was horrified by my occasional feelings of real antagonism toward my children. Won't you ever stop? Won't you ever go to bed? And time has given me the idea that probably there are a lot of young fathers and young mothers both who feel very angry, who have angry feelings toward their children. But as somebody who has been raised with the idea that father knows best and Ward Cleaver on Leave It to Beaver, and all this stuff, I would think to myself, Oh, if he doesn't shut up, if he doesn't shut up... So when I wrote this book I wrote a lot of that down and tried to get it out of my system, but it was also a confession. Yes, there are times when I felt very angry toward my children and have even felt as though I could hurt them. Well, my kids are older now. Naomi is fifteen and Joey is thirteen and Owen is eight, and they're all super kids, and I don't think I've laid a hand on one of my kids in probably seven years, but there was a time...[5]
Before writing The Shining, King had written the novel Roadwork and the novellaThe Body. The first draft of The Shining took less than four months to complete and he was able to publish it before the others.[6] The title was inspired by the 1970 John Lennon song "Instant Karma!", which contained the line "We all shine on".[12] Bill Thompson, King's editor at Doubleday Publishing, tried to talk him out of The Shining because he thought that after writing Carrie and 'Salem's Lot he would get "typed" as a horror writer. King considered that a compliment.[6]
Deleted prologue and epilogue
The Shining originally included a prologue titled "Before the Play" that chronicled earlier events in the Overlook's history, as well as an epilogue titled "After the Play". Neither remained part of the published novel.[13] The prologue was later published in Whispers magazine in August 1982, and an abridged version appeared in the April 26–May 2, 1997 issue of TV Guide to promote the then-upcoming miniseries of The Shining. The epilogue was thought to have been lost but was re-discovered in 2016 as part of an early manuscript version of the novel. Both "Before the Play" and "After the Play" were published as part of the Deluxe Special Edition of The Shining by Cemetery Dance Publications in early 2017.[14][15]
In November 2009, during a reading at the Canon Theatre in Toronto, King described to the audience an idea for a sequel to The Shining. The idea was prompted by the occasional person asking, "Whatever happened to Danny?"[16] The story would follow Danny Torrance, now in his 40s, living in New Hampshire, where he works as an orderly at a hospice, where he uses his powers to support terminally ill patients at their death.[17] Later, on December 1, King posted a poll on his official website, asking visitors to vote for which book he should write next, Doctor Sleep or the next Dark Tower novel:
I mentioned two potential projects while I was on the road, one a new Mid-World book (not directly about Roland Deschain, but yes, he and his friend Cuthbert are in it, hunting a skin-man, which are what werewolves are called in that lost kingdom) and a sequel to The Shining called Doctor Sleep. Are you interested in reading either of these? If so, which one turns your dials more? [We] will be counting your votes (and of course it all means nothing if the muse doesn't speak).[18]
Voting ended on December 31, and it was revealed that Doctor Sleep received 5,861 votes, while The Wind Through the Keyhole received 5,812.[19] In Doctor Sleep, published in September 2013, the plot includes a traveling group of psychic vampires called the True Knot.[20][21]
Adaptations
The novel was adapted into a 1980 feature film of the same name directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written with Diane Johnson. King himself wrote a screenplay, which was initially very faithful to the novel but rejected by Kubrick.[22][23] Although King himself remains disappointed with the adaptation, having criticized its handling of the book's major themes and of Wendy's character, it is regarded as one of the greatest horror films ever made.[24][25] King's disdain of the film has not lessened in recent years, with his 2018 novel The Outsider even including a jab about how poorly done Kubrick's interpretation of the film is.[26] The film adaptation of Doctor Sleep, released in 2019, was written and directed by Mike Flanagan and served as a direct sequel to the Kubrick film, but it also heavily utilizes and adapts elements of The Shining novel, including Jack's original story being incorporated into the adult Danny's arc, the effects of alcoholism, and the story's conclusion being used for the film's climax, which ultimately led to it earning King's approval.[27][28][29]
The novel was also later adapted into a television miniseries, which premiered in 1997 on ABC. King wrote and closely monitored the making of the series to ensure that it followed the novel's narrative. The miniseries garnered popular and critical acclaim, but in recent years has been received less fondly by critics compared to Kubrick's film.[30][31] The novel was adapted into an opera of the same name in 2016. It is also being adapted into a stage play directed by Ivo van Hove and written by Simon Stephens.[32]Ben Stiller is reportedly in talks to play Jack Torrance in a stage adaptation.[33][34] A spin-off series titled Overlook is in development by J. J. Abrams and his production company Bad Robot. It was to air on HBO Max and explore the tales of the Overlook Hotel.[35] However, by August 2021, the show did not move forward at HBO Max and was shopped to other outlets before Netflix picked it up the following year.[36][37]
"1408" – Stephen King's 1999 short story about the haunted hotel room
Related Research Articles
'Salem's Lot is a 1975 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It was his second published novel. The story involves a writer named Ben Mears who returns to the town of Jerusalem's Lot in Maine, where he lived from the age of five through nine, only to discover that the residents are becoming vampires. The town is revisited in the short stories "Jerusalem's Lot" and "One for the Road", both from King's story collection Night Shift (1978). The novel was nominated for the World Fantasy Award in 1976 and the Locus Award for the All-Time Best Fantasy Novel in 1987.
The Stanley Hotel is a 140-room Colonial Revival hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, United States, about five miles from the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was built by Freelan Oscar Stanley, co-founder of the Stanley Motor Carriage Company, and opened on July 4, 1909, as a resort for upper-class Easterners and a health retreat for sufferers of pulmonary tuberculosis. The hotel and its surrounding structures are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the hotel includes a restaurant, spa, and bed-and-breakfast; with panoramic views of Lake Estes, the Rockies, and Longs Peak.
The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson. It is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel of the same name and stars Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd, Shelley Duvall, and Scatman Crothers. The film presents the descent into insanity of a recovering alcoholic and aspiring novelist (Nicholson) who takes a job as winter caretaker for a haunted resort hotel with his wife (Duvall) and clairvoyant son (Lloyd).
The Shining is a 1997 three-episode horror television miniseries based on the 1977 Stephen King novel of the same name. Directed by Mick Garris from King's teleplay, it is the second adaptation of King's book after the 1980 film by Stanley Kubrick and was written and produced by King based on his dissatisfaction with Kubrick's version. The miniseries was shot at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, King's inspiration for the novel, in March 1996.
"Autopsy Room Four" is a short story by American writer Stephen King. It was first published in King's limited-edition collection Six Stories in 1997 and appeared in the anthology Robert Bloch's Psychos later the same year. In 2002, it was collected in King's collection Everything's Eventual. It was adapted into a short film in 2003. It was also part of TNT's Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King series in the summer of 2006.
Daniel Edward Sidney Lloyd is an American former child actor best known for playing Danny Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror film The Shining. After appearing in the 1982 television film Will: G. Gordon Liddy, Lloyd retired from acting. He became a professor at the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College in 2004.
John Daniel Edward "Jack" Torrance is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Stephen King's horror novel The Shining (1977). He was portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the novel's 1980 film adaptation, by Steven Weber in the 1997 miniseries, by Brian Mulligan in the 2016 opera and by Henry Thomas in the 2019 film adaptation of Doctor Sleep. The American Film Institute rated the character the 25th-greatest film villain of all time. In 2008, Jack Torrance was selected by Empire magazine as one of the 100 greatest movie characters. Premiere magazine also ranked Torrance on their list of their 100 greatest movie characters of all time.
Thinner is a horror novel by American author Stephen King, published in 1984 by NAL under King's pseudonym Richard Bachman. The story centers on morbidly obese lawyer Billy Halleck, who, driving carelessly, kills an old Romani woman while she is crossing the street. He escapes legal punishment due to his connections, but the woman's 106-year-old father then curses Halleck to physically waste away, and the lawyer must find a way to undo the curse. King, who was overweight at the time of the novel's writing, created the novel’s outline following an annual medical examination.
Rocky Wood was a New Zealand-born Australian writer and researcher best known for his books about horror author Stephen King. He was the first author from outside North America or Europe to hold the position of president of the Horror Writers Association. Wood was born in Wellington, New Zealand and lived in Melbourne, Australia with his family. He had been a freelance writer for over 35 years. His writing career began at university, where he wrote a national newspaper column in New Zealand on extra-terrestrial life and UFO-related phenomena and published other articles about the phenomenon worldwide, in the course of which research he met such figures as Erich von Däniken and J. Allen Hynek; and had articles on the security industry published in the US, Canada, the UK, New Zealand and South Africa. In October 2010, Wood was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. He died of complications on 1 December 2014.
Daniel Anthony Torrance, also known as Doctor Sleep, is a fictional character who first appears in the 1977 novel The Shining by Stephen King as a child with psychic powers called "the shining". His parents are father Jack Torrance and mother Wendy Torrance. The character was portrayed in the 1980 film adaptation The Shining by Danny Lloyd and by Courtland Mead in the 1997 television miniseries The Shining.
Doctor Sleep is a 2013 horror novel by American writer Stephen King and the sequel to his 1977 novel The Shining. The book reached the first position on The New York Times Best Seller list for print, ebook, and hardcover fiction. Doctor Sleep won the 2013 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel.
Room 237 is a 2012 American documentary film directed by Rodney Ascher about interpretations of Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining (1980) which was adapted from the 1977 novel of the same name by Stephen King. The documentary includes footage from The Shining and other Kubrick films, along with discussions by Kubrick enthusiasts. Room 237 has nine segments, each focusing on a different element within The Shining which "may reveal hidden clues and hint at a bigger thematic oeuvre." Produced by Tim Kirk, the documentary's title refers to a room in the haunted Overlook Hotel featured in The Shining.
Part of the New Hollywood era of cinema, Kubrick's films are considered by film historian Michel Ciment to be "among the most important contributions to world cinema in the twentieth century", and he is frequently cited as one of the greatest and most influential directors in the history of cinema. According to film historian and Kubrick scholar Robert Kolker, Kubrick's films were "more intellectually rigorous than the work of any other American filmmaker."
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.
Doctor Sleep is a 2019 American supernatural horror film written, directed, and edited by Mike Flanagan. It is an adaptation of the 2013 novel of the same name by Stephen King and sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film The Shining. The film stars Ewan McGregor as Dan Torrance, a man with psychic abilities and a drinking problem, who struggles with childhood trauma caused by the horrors at the Overlook Hotel. Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, and Cliff Curtis have supporting roles as new characters: Abra Stone and Billy Freeman team up with Dan to take down Rose the Hat and her gang of followers.
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Rose the Hat is a fictional character created by American writer Stephen King. She is the primary antagonist in his 2013 novel Doctor Sleep and in the 2019 film of the same name, in which she's played by Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson.
Richard Hallorann is a fictional character created by Stephen King from his 1977 novel The Shining. He has telepathic abilities he called "the shining" and is the head chef at the Overlook Hotel. He meets Danny Torrance, a young boy who is also telepathic, and learns that the evil spirits of the hotel have taken control of Danny's father, Jack.
Winnifred "Wendy" Torrance is a fictional character and protagonist of the 1977 horror novel The Shining by the American writer Stephen King. She also appears in the prologue of Doctor Sleep, a 2013 sequel to The Shining.
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.
References
↑ Bruhm, Steven (January 1996). "On Stephen King's Phallus; Or the Postmodern Gothic". Narrative. 4 (1): 55–73. JSTOR20107071.
↑ Hohne, Karen A. (Fall 1994). "The Power of Spoken Word in the Works of Stephen King". Journal of Popular Culture. 28 (2): 93–103. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.1994.2802_93.x.
↑ Martin Alegre, Sara (June 2001). "Nightmares of Childhood: The Child and the Monster in Four Novels by Stephen King". Atlantis. 23 (1): 105–114.
↑ Holland-Toll, Linda J. (Fall 1999). "Bakhtin's Carnival Reversed:King's The Shining as Dark Carnival". Journal of Popular Culture. 33 (2): 131–146. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.1999.3302_131.x.
1 2 3 "The Stephen King Companion" Beahm, George Andrews McMeel press 1989
↑ Smith, Greg (Summer 2002). "The Literary Equivalent of a Big Mac and Fries?: Academics, Moralists, and the Stephen King Phenomenon". Midwest Quarterly. 43 (4): 329–345.
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