The Road to the Dark Tower Exploring Stephen King's Magnum Opus

by Vincent, Bev

• ISBN13: 9780451213044
• ISBN10: 0451213041
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-28
• Publisher: NAL Trade

Summary

In 1970, Stephen King embarked on what would become the crowning achievement in his literary career-the Dark Tower. The seven-volume series, written and published over a period of 30 years, was inspired by Robert Browning's poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," as well as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and the spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone. With the full cooperation of Stephen King himself, The Road to the Dark Tower examines the epic journey of the author to complete a story that threatened to overwhelm him. In this indispensable companion, Bev Vincent presents a book-by-book analysis of each volume in the series, tracing the Dark Tower's connections to King's other novels including The Stand, Insomnia, and Hearts in Atlantis, and offering insights from the author about the creative process involved in crafting his lifelong work-a work that has consumed not only Stephen King, but his legion of devoted readers. This is essential reading for any Dark Tower-or Stephen King-fan.

Author Biography

Bev Vincent is the author of over two dozen short stories and the Stephen King column, News from the Dead Zone, featured in Cemetery Dance magazine.

 

Table of Contents

Introduction : more worlds than these	p. 1
The long journey to the tower	p. 5
The gunslinger (resumption)	p. 28
The drawing of the three (renewal)	p. 52
The waste lands (redemption)	p. 72
Wizard and glass (regard)	p. 92
Wolves of the Calla (resistance)	p. 115
Song of Susannah (reproduction)	p. 137
The dark tower (resumption)	p. 158
The related works	p. 194
The stand	p. 196
The eyes of the dragon	p. 199
Insomnia	p. 201
Rose madder	p. 205
Desperation and the regulators	p. 206
"The little sisters of Eluria"	p. 207
"Low men in yellow coats" (Hearts in Atlantis)	p. 210
"Everything's eventual"	p. 213
The talisman and black house	p. 215
Dramatis Personae	p. 222
Roland Deschain of Gilead	p. 222
John "Jake" Chambers	p. 229
Eddie Dean (Edward Cantor Dean)	p. 233
Susannah Dean, Odetta Susannah Holmes, Detta Susannah Walker, Mia	p. 237
Oy	p. 244
Father Donald Frank Callahan	p. 246
Patrick Danville	p. 251
The man in black, Walter o'Dim, Marten Broadcloak, Randall Flagg ...	p. 253
Mordred Deschain	p. 258
The Crimson King (Ram Abbalah)	p. 262
Stephen King	p. 267
Epics, influences and Ka	p. 275
Art and the act of creation	p. 296
Argument : magnum opus?	p. 311
Timeline (fact)	p. 317
Timeline (fiction)	p. 321
Mid-world glossary	p. 331
The dark tower on the Web	p. 335
Synopses and notes from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction	p. 337
"Childe Roland to the dark tower came"	p. 341
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.