The Great Book of Stephen King: the perfect companion for the King of Horror

The Great Book of Stephen King

Stephen King's immense literary production has populated bookstores around the world for decades. From the titles published as Richard Bachman, at the dawn of his career, to the great bestsellers that made him the King of Horror, Stephen King has created a world made of nightmares and emotions that has not remained prisoner of the limits of the books, arriving at conquer the world of cinema as well, as the Shining and It testify.

The wealth of stories and characters created by the American novelist, in his forty years of honored career, is a well-traced map for the enthusiastic Loyal Readers , made up of famous places like Castle Rock and Derry, of familiar faces like Ben Hanson and the Losers, but despite this narrative track there are many aspects of King's production that are unknown to most. A shaded area illuminated by Stephen King's The Great Book, an imposing volume by George Beahm.

Published by Mondadori, within the Electa series, Stephen King's Great Book is almost a Bible of the myth of the American writer. After its first appearance in American bookstores in 1989, Beham's titanic work enjoyed a second edition in 1995, finally arriving at the third version dated 2015. An understandable progression, considering that King has certainly not stopped drawing on his source of stories, as our Jacopo Masini defined it.

Each new volume released in recent years, such as Revival, Mr Mercedes, If the blood flows or Later made Beham's work incomplete, a feature that prompted the 'author to renew this effort to ensure readers have a perfect companion for their experience with King's fiction.

The Great Book of Stephen King: discovering the King of Horror

It is no coincidence that this tome is originally titled The Stephen King Companion. When we talk about companions we refer to works that deepen the knowledge of the work of a given author, in its entirety or by addressing specific titles. George Beahm has created a companion dedicated to King's fiction and poetics, not limiting himself to making a simple list of the novelist's works, but offering a more complete view of King's career.

Titanic effort, it must be admitted. The choice to enrich the first draft with new items, linked to King's new works, allowed the author of The Great Book by Stephen King to review previous insights, incorporating new notions and making this companion book ever richer. In an ideal journey, Beahm starts from King's family origins, trying to build a journey into the life of the novelist, finding the vital spark of his fiction. The research into his family life, the relationship with the father figure and the shared passions, is only the first step of this exciting journey in King's production. Through a meticulous research, Beahm traces a path that, ideally, is divided into eight parts, in which the different moments of King's artistic life are treated. The first part of Beahm's book, in an intelligent way, focuses on giving an emotional context to King's growth as an individual, even before as a writer.

An essential passage, which inevitably passes through his Maine. In fact, it is not possible to present King's work without showing the reader where the American novelist was trained, how his vision of horror is a mirror of a social environment in which he was formed, recounting his past, made up of renunciations and sacrifices, pursuing the dream of becoming a writer. Beahm's choice is excellent, it makes King even closer to the reader, it emphasizes the human aspect that is often perceived in his works, in the way in which his characters interact with each other. Above all, the presence of this companion book helps non-American readers to understand some central details of the literary dimension of King, who, a son of his nation, cannot avoid inserting details that are taken for granted for him, but elsewhere unclear.

From the beginnings and the first successful search, until the appearance of what is identified as his first work of the turning point, Carrie, Beahm invites us to a reasoned reading of Kingh's work. The Great Book of Stephen King, in fact, is a volume to keep at your side or to consult as you continue reading the novelist's works. For each novel, you have the opportunity to discover its origins, to read interviews with King in which the writer himself reveals small details. Beahm searched for interviews, articles dedicated to the novelist or conversed with people close to King.

A unique way to get to know King

Each content shows the spirit in which the Mondadori volume was conceived , that is, giving each King's work the right dimension, not only within the continuity of King's literary world, but also in showing its impact within the literary community. In fact, there is no lack of references to the lukewarm, not to say cold welcome, reserved for King's works by critics, as told in Take Stephen King. Sul Serio, a chapter in which Beahm recalls when on the occasion of the victory of one of the numerous prizes, where his works were judged as 'simple appendix novels'.

Stephen King's Great Book pays homage to the myth of the American novelist, presenting it in a new light, fascinating both lovers of his work and simple enthusiasts. To embellish the beautiful volume of Mondadori Electa contribute the illustrations by Michael Whelan and Glenn Chadbourne, which together with a large photographic sector shows the real world of King. Mondadori presents Stephen King's The Great Book in an edition with captivating graphics, with a cover that praises some of King's most loved and appreciated works, and generous dimensions similar to those of the Mondadori Dragons. In every respect, therefore, Stephen King's The Great Book is a fascinating and precious work, which allows it to be freely read in search of curiosity about one of the most influential novelists of contemporary literature.