Monthly Archives: September 2020

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“The Dead Zone” by Stephen King: Alienation and Recovery

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In talking about books written by Stephen King, I think there is some trepidation when it comes to listing one’s favorites. There are just so many great novels in his horror canon. Nonetheless, I am always quick to point out The Dead Zone (1979) by King as one of my favorites. I read it when I was in my early 20s. I remember staying up night after night reading it until I had completed it in a sad, bleary-eyed mess. It was a fantastic experience.

I think it is an important book.

With that said, in this post, I am going to summarize the novel and provide my overall thoughts near the end.

Synopsis
The Beginning

The novel opens with a young Johnny Smith falling and hitting his head on the ice while skating. This accident causes him to see a future accident. In his vision, a man gets his face burned with battery acid after jumping his car. This comes to fruition, though nobody thinks twice.

Meanwhile, somewhere else in the US, bible salesmen Greg Stillson thinks about his future (and dreams of power). Then after a bout of annoyance with a barking dog, he savagely beats it to death. It is a rough scene:

“Sometimes he wondered if he was going crazy. Like now. He had meant to give the dog a burst from the ammonia Flit gun, drive it back into the barn so he could leave his business card in the crack of the screen door.

Come back some other time and make a sale. Now look. Look at this mess. Couldn’t very well leave his card now, could he?

He opened his eyes. The dog lay at his feet, panting rapidly, drizzling blood from its snout. As Greg Stillson looked down, it licked his shoe humbly, as if to acknowledge that it had been bested, and then it went back to the business of dying.”

(The Dead Zone | Stephen King)

Fast forward to 1970, Johnny Smith teaches English at a high school in Maine. He is also dating one of the other teachers at the school, Sarah Bracknell. They both go on a date that ends in a spectacular showing of Johnny’s latent ability. He wins a “Wheel of Fortune” carnival game multiple times. This upsets the game manager, and so Johnny and Sarah leave.

After taking Sarah home, Johnny is involved in a car accident and falls into a four-year coma. After he awakes he discovers that he can touch people and see events, typically tragedies, in their future. He has a revealing interaction with one of his nurses during the proceeding passage:

“He was still gripping her hand, looking into her face with’ a faraway, dreamy contemplation that made her feel nervous. She had heard things about Johnny Smith, rumors that she had disregarded with her own brand of hard-headed pragmatism. There was a story that he had predicted Marie Michaud’s boy was going to be all right, even before the doctors were one hundred percent sure they wanted to try the risky operation.

Another rumor had something to do with Dr. Weizak; it was said Johnny had told him his mother was not dead but living someplace on the West Coast under another name. As far as Eileen Magown was concerned, the stories were so much eyewash on a par with the confession magazines and sweet-savage love stories so many nurses read on station. But the way he was looking at her now made her feel afraid. It was as if he was looking inside her.”

(The Dead Zone | Stephen King)
The Middle

After Johnny’s ability becomes known, the press wants to capitalize on his “gift.” They inundate him with interviews, but he begins to reject his newfound fame by becoming more reclusive. After a tabloid prints a story on Johnny that dismisses his ability, Johnny believes he can resume his old life. However, the local sheriff, Bannerman, asks him if he can help solve a slew of serial-killings. Johnny is able to adeptly solve the case, which results in a shocking climax.

We cut to the door-to-door salesman (Greg Stillson) who is now the mayor of Ridgeway, New Hampshire. He has found success through making violent threats and other illicit activities against his enemies. Stillson later wins a seat in the U. S. House of Representatives while Johnny is teaching as a tutor in Ridgeway. Johnny decides to meet Stillson, as he has made a hobby of meeting elected officials. During the rally, he has a psychic vision that the vicious, dog-killing politician will eventually cause worldwide nuclear chaos.

“There was the sense of flying – flying through the blue – above scenes of utter desolation that could not quite be seen. And cutting through this came the disembodied voice of Greg Stillson, the voice of a cut-rate God or a comic-opera engine of the dead: ‘I’M GONNA GO THROUGH THEM LIKE BUCKWHEAT THROUGH A GOOSE! GONNA GO THROUGH THEM LIKE SHIT THROUGH A CANEBRAKE!’

‘The tiger,’ Johnny muttered thickly. ‘The tiger’s behind the blue. Behind the yellow.’

Then all of it, pictures, images, and words, broke up in the swelling, soft roar of oblivion. He seemed to smell some sweet, coppery scent, like burning high-tension wires. For a moment that inner eye seemed to open even wider, searching; the blue and yellow that had obscured everything seemed about to solidify into … into something, and from somewhere inside, distant and full of terror, he heard a woman shriek: ‘Give him to me, you bastard!’”

(The Dead Zone | Stephen King)
The End

Johnny decides to take matters into his own hands to stop Sillson. He buys a rifle with the intent to assassinate the prospective politician before he can do harm. However, his plans fail, and he is mortally wounded, but no before Stillson undoes his career with a fatal mistake. Before dying, Johnny touches Stillson and learns that he has prevented the violent future he saw in his premonition.

“Stillson got up abruptly, and with the last bit of his strength Johnny reached out and grasped his ankle. It was only for a second; Stillson pulled free easily. But it was long enough.

Everything had changed.

People were drawing near him now, but he saw only feet and legs, no faces. It didn’t matter. Everything had changed.

He began to cry a little. Touching Stillson this time had been like touching a blank. Dead battery. Fallen tree. Empty house. Bare bookshelves. Wine bottles ready for candles.”

(The Dead Zone| Stephen King)

The book closes with letters from Johnny to his father and other loved ones that detail his motives and rationale. It also features a brief narrative including Sarah, who visits Johnny’s grave and makes peace with his death. It turns out that Johnny’s headaches were caused by a tumor that gave him only a few months to live. Feeling too passive with his psychic gift, he decides to take action. So, according to Johny, there was no alternative to killing Stillson.

Overall thoughts

I love The Dead Zone by King for its pacing. The reader gets to live with Johnny Smith and his strange psychic gift. As some critics have pointed out, there really is not an antagonist for most of this novel. Instead, it relies on the themes of “recovery” and alienation for a large chunk of the story. All of this adds to the pacing of the story. The slowness of it (the day-to-day of the novel) feels a bit truer in regards to a story about suffering.

Additionally, The Dead Zone is both a supernatural and extremely human experience. There could not be more pathos in regards to the character of Johnny. He spends much of the book in quiet contemplation, wondering why he was given the gift of second sight. This confusion causes him great psychological harm. It also puts him in strange situations, including solving murders committed by a serial killer, and saving students from a catastrophe. Johnny isn’t running in and kicking down doors. Rather, he is focused on the emotional impact of his psychic powers. It seems as though he save those around him but with great cost to himself.

Works Cited

King, Stephen. The Dead Zone. Viking Press, 1979.

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Author Biography: Richard Wright’s Impact on Black Literature

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In today’s post, we examine the life of Richard Wright, who wrote an extremely influential novel about the Black American experience. This novel is called Black Boy. Wright was a complex figure who participated in communist communities post-World War I. He cared deeply about the treatment of blacks at the hands of white society and wrote for social reform and justice.. Much like other authors in a similar genre, he wrote about his passions and what he believed needed to change in the world around him.

Richard Wright’s Early Years

Wright was born on Sept. 4, 1908 on Rucker’s Plantation near Natchez, Mississippi in Roxie. He was the son of a sharecropper and teacher who had been born free after the Civil War. Both sets of his grandparents had been slaves.

When Wright was six, his father left and did not reunite with his son for 25 years. Wright did not attend school until 1920, when he and his remaining family moved in with his grandparents. Though Wright excelled in his studies, his life at home in a Seventh-Day Adventist household stifled him greatly. .

Wright’s Publishing Career

Wright “worked at a number of jobs before joining the northward migration, first to Memphis, Tennessee, and then to Chicago (in 1927). There, after working in unskilled jobs, he got an opportunity to write through the Federal Writers’ Project” (Britannica). The project allowed him other avenues of expression and he was able to pursue a love of the craft.

The project spurred Wright in his writing interests, and he later joined the Communist Party in 1932. He also acted as the Harlem editor of the Communist Daily Worker in 1937 after he moved to New York City. He would later produce Uncle Tom’s Children in 1938, which was a series of novellas that asks the question: “How may a black man live in a country that denies his humanity?” (Britannica).

His novellas would begin a string of successes:

“More acclaimed followed in 1940 with the publication of the novel Native Son, which told the story of a 20-year-old African American man named Bigger Thomas. The book brought Wright fame and freedom to write.”

(Biography.com)

Then, in 1945, Wright published Black Boy, which depicted “extreme poverty and his accounts of racial violence against blacks” (Biography.com). This novel continues to be his hallmark and shows his adeptness at

Richard Wright’s Final Years

Richard Wright lived in Mexico from 1940 to 1946 and eventually left the Communist Party disenfranchised. He later lived in Paris where he wrote The Outsider (1953), The Long Dream (1958), Black Power (1954) and White Man, Listen (1957). During these years, his books were about “hunger, poverty, race, and various protest movements” (famousauthors.org).

Wright died in Paris of a heart attack at the age of 52 on Nov. 28, 1960.

Works Cited

Britannica.com

Biography.com

Famousauthors.org

Wikipedia.org

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The Reclusive and Complex Thomas Pynchon

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There is an interesting story about science fiction author Thomas Pynchon that is a little hard to verify—because it’s probably false. But here it is anyway: the author of the book V, Thomas Pynchon, was sitting quietly in his hotel room one day waiting to meet with a publisher. Suddenly, there came a knock on the door, loudly abrasive, and the voice behind demanded an audience. It was a reporter. And he wasn’t going to leave until he got at least one picture of the famously reclusive author. Instead of entertaining this bit of mania, Pynchon instead chose to jump out of a third-story window from the hotel and into a tree. He shimmied down and ran to freedom.

Much like J. D. Salinger (or Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird), when you are infamous for your reclusive nature, and you hate interviews, myths begin to pop up around your character. In today’s post, we are going to examine the life and achievements of science fiction author Thomas Pynchon.

Pynchon’s Early Years and Education

Pynchon was born as one of three children in Glen Cove, Long Island, on May 8, 1937. He would go on to Oyster Bay High School in Nassau County and graduated in 1953. Pynchon earned his bachelor’s in English from Cornell University in 1958. Afterward, he lived in Greenwich Village for a short time, crafting short stories, and eventually found work in Seattle writing safety articles for Boeing.

Thomas Pynchon’s Publishing History

He eventually turned to writing full-time and won the Faulkner Foundation Award in 1963 for his book V. Following this success, Pynchon wrote The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) and Gravity’s Rainbow (1973). He also published a collection of short stories titled Slow Learner (1984) (Britannica).

Over a decade later, Pynchon published Vineland (1990), Mason & Dixon (1997), and Against the Day (2006). His most recent novels include Inherent Vice (2009) and Bleeding Edge (2013). Regarding his “complex” novels, some sources state: “To plunge down the rabbit hole of Pynchon’s fiction is to commence a journey into an alternate world, a world—somewhat like our own but, as Pynchon put it ‘Maybe it’s not the world, but with a minor adjustment or two it’s what the world might be.’”

Examining Pynchon’s History of Reclusiveness

As stated earlier in the post, the synonymity of Thomas Pynchon and “the myth of the reclusive author” is apparent when people converse about him. Time reported that, “Almost nothing is known about the author of some of the most seminal, mysterious and generally difficult works of the 20th century fiction, and the novelist would like to keep it that way … When his 1973 novel Gravity’s Rainbow won the National Book Award, Pynchon had someone else accept on his behalf” (Time). In other words, he was not about the song and dance of writing. He was about the writing.

Moreover, it may be that this reclusiveness is a fabrication of pop culture obsession. It is very well that Pynchon just might dislike the attention from journalists, or he just might not like answering questions. Both of these are valid reasons to skip ceremony, and his privacy is probably a much less dramatic story then some would like. It is not like other writers aren’t eccentric or don’t have eccentric ideas.

As contributor to Vice David Whelan said of Pynchon’s mythos: “This is far from the truth. He’s not hiding in the woods or refusing to publish new work à la J.D. Salinger; he just doesn’t like talking to reporters. While there are only four known photos of Pynchon … he’s a vibrant prankster with his finger on the world’s pulse. He knows how to manipulate us. He’s willing to make fun of himself …”

Conclusion

We should accept a nuanced version of Pynchon because it makes more sense that a story of reclusiveness has been created around him rather than him intentionally creating the story itself because he’s a “weirdo” or an “eccentric.” As we should see it, Pynchon is just a talented writer who doesn’t care at all for the additional publicity that comes with fame. Writing, after all, takes time, and that doesn’t include the spotlight.

Works Cited

“Thomas Pynchon.” Britannica. Web.

“Thomas Pynchon.” Thomaspynchon.com. 1997-2018. Web.

“Top 10 Most Reclusive Celebrities.” Time. Web.

Whelan, David. “Thomas Pynchon and the Myth of the Reclusive Author.” Vice. Oct. 9, 2014. Web.

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The Role of Epithets in Literature Explained

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New verbiage is crucial in writing to explore different ways to communicate and convey messages. When it comes to literature, it is also important to understand what an author is trying to say. In this post we are going to define epithets and explore how to use them in our own writing.

What is an Epithet?

An epithet is a literary device that uses a descriptor to describe a person, place, or object. These are also known as a by-names or descriptive titles. As some sources define it it: “A characterizing word or phrase accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a person or thing” (Merriam-Webster). Moreover, we categorize epithets a few ways:

  • A Kenning: Two-word phrase
  • A Fixed: Repeated use of a word (Odysseus as “Many-Minded”)
  • Argumentative: A “possible outcome” or repercussions

What Does this Mean?

Epithets can be tricky. As Vocabulary.com writes: “An epithet can be harmless, a nickname that catches on … On the flipside, an epithet can be an abusive word or phrase that should never be used, like a racial epithet that offends and angers everyone.”

Here are a few examples of epithets from all the categories:

  • Richard the Lion-Heart
  • Trash panda (racoon)
  • The Piano Man (for Billy Joel)
  • Rost-fingered
  • Catherine the Great
  • Wine-dark sea
  • The Great Emancipator (for Abe Lincoln)

How to Use Epithets in Our Own Writing

When implementing epithets in our own writing, we can go about it a few ways. One way is to enrich characterization by supplying nicknames to our characters that other characters have coined. As such, you create a richer world where there is definitive interaction between people.

Conclusion

In this way, epithets can make your writing seem more real and realized. Additionally, epithets can be used to address those derogatory experiences in life, racial or otherwise. Understanding the reasons behind an epithet can help us better contextualize history by understanding society at a given time.

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The Great Vowel Shift: What is It, and Why Did It Happen?

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The Great Vowel Shift sounds like some sort of cataclysmic event where the world suddenly split open and words spilled out everywhere. As a consequence, now suddenly humans all talk differently. However, that is not really the case at all. In fact, like most things, the shift was a gradual evolution from one era to another and it has a complex history. With that said, in today’s post, we are going to look at the causes and effects of The Great Vowel Shift.

Background of The Great Vowel Shift

In the beginning, vowels were a bit different from what we know them as today. That is to say, there was a difference in pronunciation, from longer and more complex sounds. The shift between the times of Chaucer, Shakespeare, and afterward are indicative of this change.

“The main difference between Chaucer’s language and our own is in the pronunciation of the ‘long’ vowels,” states Harvard University. “The consonants remain generally the same, though Chaucer rolled his r’s, sometimes dropped his aitches, and pronounced both elements of consonant combinations, such as ‘kn,’ that were later simplified.”

In other words, time moved on and through era, so the vowel sound began to change and evolve over time. Vowels started to be pronounced closer to the front of the mouth, which meant as the shift happened some words were pronounced differently. But often, people would pronounce words a specific way based on where they lived. Moreover, there were 8 steps in this change, and, as academia has suggested—this didn’t happen in a quick, orderly way, because evolving language takes time.

Why Did the Shift Happen?

The Great Vowel Shift occurred during the late Middle English period (and before and after, too). It was a “raising of all long vowels,” and there are many explanations given as to why this happened (Nordquist).

For example, because this happened between the 15th and 18th centuries, the shift could be attributed to the movement of people. As stated by some sources: “rapid migration of people from northern England to the southeast part of the country” caused this change as they were looking “to escape the Black Death that killed over 25 million people across Europe” (Omondi).

Moreover, this movement of people blended accents and the words that people use. It also saw the use of a lot more loanwords from France. This either made the English want to change the way their English words sounded in comparison or the two languages naturally blended together.

There are also arguments stating that England’s rich wanted to change the way they spoke so they would sound less like the common serf. In this way, the aristocracy could differentiate itself from the peasant.

Conclusion

The Great Vowel Shift was a massive change in how our words sounds compared to Middle English and transformed speech into what we know today. There are many reasons for this change (as stated), and we can see the shift’s affects even to this day.

Works Cited

“The Great Vowel Shift.” Furman.edu. Web.

“The Great Vowel Shift.” Harvard.edu. Web.

Nordquist, Richard. “What was the great vowel shift?” Thoughtco.com. June 4, 2020. Web.

Omondi, Sharon. “What Was the Great Vowel Shift?” World Atlas. July 18, 2019. Web.

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Top Four Really Long Books

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As writers, we often fret about word count and how long our books are going to be when its all said and done. Some authors don’t really care about that as much. In this post, much like in previous posts, we are going to look at some of the longest books ever written. The list that follows will probably contain some recognizable faces, and hopefully this will give you some solace in your own writing goal if you are working on that novel of yours.

1. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

We all want to start David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest one day, but the book’s daunting size makes that a difficult goal. The book is over 540,000 words long, and it’s also a complex novel. As such, it’s hard to nail the plot down exactly. The novel is set on a North American superstate that involves the United States, Mexico, and Canada. There are many plot threads to contend with, including Quebec radicals, substance abusers in Boston, students at an academy, and family strife. Regardless of its density, it seems to have its merits as one of the really long books on this list.

2. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand has massively-sized novels, and the often complex content in her novels guarantees that you will be reading for awhile. Her book Atlas Shrugged is about individualism in a dystopian future and is over 500,000 words (565,223-645,000 by some accounts). That is a really long book. Many of us struggled to punch out 50, 000 words for a novel, so to write that many books with a high word count is quite an achievement.

3. Clarissa by Samuel Richardson

Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa or History of a Young Lady was published in 1748. It is a story of Clarissa Harlowe and is a whopping 943-000-969,000-word novel. In Clarissa’s attempts to be a moral, chaste woman in pursuit of a suitable marriage, Richardson got carried away. Or, he intentionally wrote that much and deserves a medal. The book was positively received, but due to its length takes a great undertaking of reading stamina.

4. Mission Earth by L. Ron Hubbard.

The noted creator of Scientologist was also a prolific science fiction/fantasy author. Mission Earth is one such piece of science fiction and it also happens to be a massive tome. It is 1.2 million words and details (over the course of 10 volumes) the story of Jettero Heller, who attempts to stop the evil Voltars from conquering Earth. Largely marred by sexual misadventures and diatribes, reviews for the book are middling.