In celebration of Stephen King's 65th birthday, I wanted to share one of my favorite Stephen King short stories. This is also my student's most favorite thing we read all semester. Anything else I give them will usually receive mixed reviews. But this one always gets unanimous praise. I tell my students before I distribute the story that this is not a horror story. King writes more than just horror. Few people believe that, and, honestly, I don't believe it much myself. All of King's stories find somebody caught in a moment that no one would want to face. Like in this story, for instance. Still, what we have here is not overt supernatural or violent horror as much as relational, emotional, psychological horror, and I think that's what my students love so much about it: the tearing apart of siblings, the sonic pounding of regret, the desparation to change just one single moment, to go back in time and to have written that one letter that may have changed everything. If there's one literary triumph King delivers repeatedly, even if he can't close a novel worth a good golly-dern, it's this: he can capture the human heart at its best and its worst, and he can show it to us in ways that feel uncomfortably familiar until we realize it's us, the Constant Reader, that he has exposed. I've tried to make it a celebratory tradition each year on this day to share a Stephen King story with my friends. I hope at least one of you will enjoy this one.
Click on the story title to open the story link:
"The Last Rung On The Ladder"
Happy Belated Birthday to one of my professors favorite authors I like some of Steven Kings movies although I usually have to watch it twice to clearly understand what's going on have a awesome day Mr.Still
ReplyDeleteI ain't read it yet, but I aim to.
ReplyDelete...caught in a moment that no one would want to face... that's a good position from which to start a good short.
I reckon I owe ye a phone-tell.