Shining

Author: Stephen King
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-03-01
Features: The Shining is one of Stephen King's masterpieces. "As one enters a forbidden region, evil things will befall them," is a rule in his works, and this novel is no exception. The term "shining" refers to a extrasensory premonitory ability. The boy Danny possesses the "shining," accompanied by ominous dreams, to the Overlook Hotel in the remote mountains of Colorado with his father, the writer Jack Torrance, and his mother, Wendy, to serve as the hotel's caretaker during the long winter. Jack discovers a scrapbook of the hotel's secret history in the basement's old papers and becomes engrossed in it. The desolate and gloomy building makes the family increasingly uneasy, and some inexplicable events begin to occur: hornets killed by pest bombs return in swarms, the animals shaped like dogs, lions, etc., in the hedge begin to stir, and footsteps are heard in empty rooms. Danny's nightmares continue, where he is chased by frenzied ghosts, and a chilling symbol, redrum, repeatedly flashes before his eyes. Wendy decides to take the family away, but the uncontrollable Jack destroys all communication lines and transportation. The nightmare comes true, and the terrible events Danny has foreseen intrude into reality. He is threatened by the relentless suicide bomber and the menacing hedge animals, and discovers that redrum is the word "murder" reflected twice in a mirror. The evil spirit awakens, and the possessed Jack becomes obsessed. He sees the scenes of different eras of the hotel overlapping and puts himself in them, attending a grand masquerade ball held 30 years ago. Jack becomes the "mask" of the evil spirit, transforming into it and violently chasing his wife and son with a hammer. After a thrilling battle, the out-of-control boiler explodes, the hotel and the evil spirit attached to it disintegrate, and Danny and his mother escape with the help of a black cook who also possesses the "shining" and comes to rescue them. Stephen King is a vital writer for Hollywood. His jumping writing style and narrative approach that frequently shifts between reality and fantasy are clearly influenced by film montage techniques, making his works relatively easy to adapt into film language. This novel was adapted into a film in 1980 by Stanley Kubrick, fully showcasing various "terror aesthetics" elements. The eerie music and terrifying cinematography blend exceptionally well, making it a classic in this genre and hailed as an "artistic horror film." Although many scenes and imagery in the novel are impressive, such as the recurring red symbol red-rum, the lion in the hedge leaping silently covered in snow, and the ghostly pursuit scenes of Jack, Stephen King primarily does not attract readers with just horror scenes. The charm of his novels lies in the creation of a terrifying atmosphere, using suspense and hints to stimulate readers' imagination and guide them to experience darkness, oppression, tension, and fear firsthand. King excels at capturing the primal and deep-seated fears in the human psyche, them out one by one, and them before the reader. While the themes of The Shining and evil spirits may seem mysterious and bizarre, the gripping power of the novel does not solely stem from them. In fact, one of the most important characteristics of King's novels is their proximity to everyday life, delicately portraying characters' real-life struggles, and then skillfully weaving and overlapping the real world with the surreal world. The Shining is a novel that depicts the tragedy brought by supernatural forces to a family, but it can also be interpreted as a tragedy in real life. Jack is a neurotic writer with a violent tendency, who once harmed Danny in a fit of rage, lost his university teaching position due to alcoholism and physical abuse of students, and carries heavy psychological burdens. This creates a pervasive sense of insecurity for Wendy and Danny. Naturally, King transforms this all-encompassing insecurity into supernatural terror. Having graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in English and Literature, King is no stranger to the literary history of Britain and America. Edgar Allan Poe, a prominent predecessor in the fields of horror and mystery fiction, was one of the writers who greatly influenced him. Several key plot ideas and imagery in The Shining originate from Poe's masterpiece The Masque of the Red Death, such as the revived masquerade ball and the repeated phrase "the shadow of the Red Death that covers all" in Jack and Danny's minds. For Chinese readers unfamiliar with Western writers like Poe, this might create a slight sense of abruptness in reception, but it does not hinder you from getting lost in King's novel and sharing the chills with the protagonist. For me, the best effect is when readers die of a heart attack while reading my novel. —Stephen King