The iconic author Stephen King says “sucks”
There’s sure to be some rivalry at the very top of artistic success, whether it’s between Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, who thrived in the western genre, or Stanley Kubrick and Andrei Tarkovsky, who vied for sci-fi supremacy in the late 20th century. But rivalry is one thing, and pure hatred is another, with Stephen King once having some rather choice words regarding one of the world’s greatest literary minds.
Known for his fondness for suburban horror tales, where he turned the safety of America’s family communities on its head, King climbed to popularity in the 1970s, penning such celebrated stories as Carrie, The Shining and The Dead Zone. Iconic in and of himself, King’s popularity, no doubt, grew when filmmakers of the era saw the cinematic potential of his work.
Brian De Palma approached the author to make Carrie, as did Stephen King for The Shining, and even the Canadian body horror aficionado David Cronenberg made a successful enquiry about The Dead Zone. Soon enough, King was an established name across Hollywood, becoming a key figure in cinema in the 1980s, thanks to adaptations such as Children of the Corn, Stand By Me, and The Running Man.
Yet, never shy about sharing his own opinions, King was quick to share his criticisms for another literary genius who also enjoyed a healthy career with big-screen adaptations: Ernest Hemingway.
Responsible for penning the original stories to such classic movies as 1944’s To Have and Have Not with Humphrey Bogart, 1957’s A Farewell to Arms starring Rock Hudson and 1943’s For Whom the Bells Tolls, among many more. But, whether it was a rivalry or something more toxic, it’s fair to say that King wasn’t too keen on Hemingway and once spoke his mind during an interview with Rolling Stone in 2014.
Speaking about his time in the horror genre, one of the literary world’s least well-respected genres, King stated: “It’s one of the genres that live across the tracks in the literary community, but what could I do? That’s where I was drawn. I love D.H. Lawrence. And James Dickey’s poetry, Émile Zola, Steinbeck…Fitzgerald, not so much. Hemingway, not at all. Hemingway sucks, basically. If people like that, terrific. But if I set out to write that way, what would’ve come out would’ve been hollow and lifeless because it wasn’t me”.
Ever the modest author, he finalised his thoughts by adding: “I have to say this: To a degree, I have elevated the horror genre”. Take a look at the trailer for 1944’s To Have and Have Not and revisit a classic of Hemingway’s, even if King isn’t too fond.
