The turn of the century novelist Stephen King “idolises”
Any reader with half an inkling of interest in the world of horror fiction will have undoubtedly explored the works of Stephen King at one point or another. After all, the Maine-born writer is the contemporary master of horror and has delivered some of the most significant and memorable works in the genre throughout his career.
The likes of Carrie, The Shining, Christine, Misery, The Green Mile and It have all arrived as a result of King’s prowess as a writer, each of which has been adapted into movie versions, including those by Brian De Palma, Stanley Kubrick, John Carpenter and Frank Darabont, showing King’s important contribution to cinema as well as literature.
While it’s easy to think of King as a horror writer, it’s equally true that he has delved into the worlds of suspense, crime, science fiction and fantasy on a number of occasions. Bearing that in mind, one of King’s favourite writers certainly makes sense, considering the fact that he had delivered a wider sense of realism that traditional horror.
When speaking at the JFK Library, King admitted to having an endless admiration for Frank Norris, the journalist and novelist known for his naturalist fiction during the Progressive Era. “Whether it’s horror or whether it’s something that has to do with love, sex, affection, murder, violence, any of those things, the trick is to try and tell the truth,” King had noted.
“I idolize Frank Norris, the guy who wrote McTeague and The Octopus,” King added before going on to point out the fact that at the time of Norris’ writing, he had been called out for delivering a new type of fiction that focused on the mundane and the everyday facets of life that are sometimes overlooked in genre fiction, particularly the kind that King is associated with.
The Carrie author explained, “He said that some people had criticized him for writing stories about ordinary people and sort of sordid situations. And he said, ‘What cared I? I never truckled. I told them the truth.'” While King’s stories have often tapped into the supernatural and cosmological, it’s also true that they have humanity, undoubtedly inspired by Norris.
In 1899, Norris published McTeague, which focuses on a couple’s courtship and marriage before exploring how it descends into violent poverty. In 1916, the book was adapted into a film version by Barry O’Neil as well as serving as the inspiration for 1924’s Greed and a 1992 opera by William Bolcom.
The other Norris book that caught King’s attention is 1901’s The Octopus, which explores the Californian wheat industry amid a conflict between the farmers and a railway company. Such stories might not be the first kind that we associate with King and his interests, but they prove that his love for literature spreads far and wide.
“If you can tell the truth, you’re on good grounds,” King signed off on his thoughts of the kind of fiction that Norris wrote. “I know that people do fall in love and people do bond together. I like to write about that.” Indeed, on occasion, away from the supernatural horror, King’s novels have been doused with an air of realism, say, in The Shining and the recovering alcoholism of Jack Torrance and the mistreatment of his wife and son.
