Dissecting Stephen King: From the Gothic to Literary Naturalism

by Heidi Strengell

Bridging gaps between intellectual history, biography, and military/colonial history, Barnett Singer and John Langdon provide a challenging, readable interpretation of French imperialism and some of its leading figures from the early modern era through the Fifth Republic. They ask us to rethink and reevaluate, pulling away from the usual shoal of simplistic condemnation. In a series of finely-etched biographical studies, and with much detail on both imperial culture and wars (including World War I and II), they offer a balanced, deep, strong portrait of key makers and defenders of the French Empire, one that will surely stimulate much historical work in the field.

Genres: Nonfiction

308 pages, Paperback

First published July 8, 2005

Reviews

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, but I suspect the chapters of having been published separately as individual papers and then put together for a book, as there's quite a bit of repetition and redundancy. Not all of it is well argued; perhaps unsurprisingly, the chapters on the Gothic are the strongest and she makes some interesting connections, while the digressions about Calvinism are just confusing. There are a few places where Strengell contradicts herself and one or two where (IMO) she's just plain wrong. She gets a few minor points about The Stand wrong; they don't affect her argument but it does pay to get the details right. All in all, though, the book is thorough and workmanlike. Strengell does a good job of synthesizing the extant lit crit on King's work, and the bibliography is highly useful for future reading.