Reposted from comment threads: The Literary Epochs of Stephen King.

[matt_doyle]

I dunno. I love King when he's not trying to write horror, generally, which is more frequently than people seem to think, but still pretty horrifying (see: Under the Dome.)

He's written so much and for so long that I kind of divide his works up into Early, Middle, Late, and Really Late. The periods have some overlaps, but there are general trends that are visible thanks to how prolific he is.

Early King is schlocky and often full of all manner of fail, is very horrifying and generally really shocking in original ways when it comes to that horror. Toward the end of the early King period, King was doing a lot of drugs, and did things like write entire novels he does not remember writing, such as Cujo.

Don't read Cujo.

I would classify It as the turning point between Early and Middle King.  I am glad I read It but would neither read it again nor recommend it to anyone.

Middle King is characterized by a more epic scope and heroic narrative taking center stage in King's works, so that he becomes less a horror author and more a fantasy author with strong horror elements. The best parts of the Dark Tower series, and the books of his that tie in most closely with those, are Middle King. Middle King has less fail, but he's a straight middle-aged white guy. It gets in there.

Middle King ends in the middle of On Writing, when King gets hit with a van.

Late King consists of those bits of Middle King and Really Late King that were written or edited while King was on pain-killers after getting hit by a van. They are mostly retreads of Early King. Thankfully there are not many of them. The whole existence of this as a separate category is basically my hateful bias.

Really Late King is everything written since King announced that he was retiring as a novelist. Cell, Lisey's Story, Duma Key, etc. etc. Really Late King possesses the originality of Early King, the heroic narrative of Middle King, and adds to that a profound and pervasive sense of wonder at the world. The good parts of Dark Tower VII are Really Late King; unfortunately most of it is just Late King. Really Late King is the bomb, basically.

Comments

[kittycrystal.livejournal.com]

I should punch you in the face for telling people not to read Cujo.

[kittycrystal.livejournal.com]

The man helped define a genre. My God, that's like telling people not to listen to the Beatles' original hits.

[matt_doyle]

I could not get through it. And the man himself has only the word of people around him that it was actually him who wrote it, XD, he was too drunk/high for the two weeks it took him.

[kittycrystal.livejournal.com]

That's why you tell people to get high and read it.

[lesstraveled.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHA I like this advice.

[kittycrystal.livejournal.com]

I got drunk and read the Shining! It can help you identify, really!!

[lesstraveled.livejournal.com]

The part I think I really hated about the DT series is that because it took him so long to write, you can basically map out most of your split timeline of Kings on there... and the 5-7 books are Late King, i.e., Meta King Has Too Much Fucking Time On His Hands While He Eats Painkillers And Ruminates On His Own Mortality. Like seriously fuck the last DT books, they make me so q0349r8uaofjlkajdfl;kasjdf rrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhh.

[matt_doyle]

I like much of 5, and little bits of 6, and... some... concepts... from 7? But yeah, even King admitted DT7 was a letdown. My two biggest beefs were the anticlimactic fight at the tower and the fact that walter went down like a punk (and the fact that it had been previously established that walter/maerlyn/farson/flagg were AT LEAST two different distinct individuals. Or a Time Lord.)

[lesstraveled.livejournal.com]

For me, I just wanted a giant REDO button once King planted himself in the books. It just... giant freakin' anvil. Took me out of the universe and not in a good "aw, Kings so smrt" way, either.

I don't even remember what happened to Walter. Wait,

he got eaten by Mordred the spider baby...? I think?

It's indicative of how much I hated VII that I own the book and yet cannot remember most of what happened in it. Once the three Kings came out I think I wanted to eat my own eyes.

[matt_doyle]

Yes, that's what happened to Walter. And apparently despite actually being the Amalgamated Bad Guy he had no power whatsoever to stop it. Despite how easily Roland toasted that same threat.

See, while I didn't LIKE the self-insert, I thought it was handled relatively gracefully, at least comparatively speaking, and it bothered me less than... the rest of the book.

Really though the last three books mostly just make me want to read a series about the Tet Corporation.

[lesstraveled.livejournal.com]

Really though the last three books mostly just make me want to read a series about the Tet Corporation.
Man, I hear there's a comic book series based on DT? Clearly, needs a spin-off series about this.

[matt_doyle]

Yes.


they should hire me to write it

[tears-of-nienna.livejournal.com]

Pretty much yes to all of this. Middle King is my favorite--I could read the first four Dark Tower books over and over and probably not get bored. (Yes, I know the first one is probably Early King, or even Primordial King, since he started it when he was--oh god I get it now--19.)

I've always wanted to know how the Dark Tower story would have ended if he hadn't been hit by the van. I mourn for the story that might have existed, because the last three books don't fit right, to me. I've read them once each, and I don't feel any urge to re-read them. Except for the last few paragraphs of the seventh book.

I really loved Duma Key, but Cell just infuriated me. You can pull off that kind of ending in a short story, but you can't do that to a reader after 400 pages of a novel. It's damn cheap.

[matt_doyle]

I was actually okay with the ending to Cell, but I very much understand not being okay with it.

[tears-of-nienna.livejournal.com]

Now that I think about it, I guess it's a similar ending to Dark Tower--sort of an unresolved resolution, if that makes sense. I don't know why the Dark Tower ending works for me but Cell doesn't.

[maidsofmight.livejournal.com]

So I have to admit that I have only listened to part of one of his audibooks, and only read Duma Key by him. But I really really dig it. And need to fish it out of my closet and finish it. (I read most of it while I was running a high fever. Freakiest thing ever.) Quick Matt. Tell me what else I should read.

[matt_doyle]

Lisey's Story is just fantastic, pretty inarguably so I think.