This is a novel that I have read several times during the past 30 years.I'm sure I'm not alone.
I first read it in the summer of 1985 at the age of seventeen. The end of the world seemed like some type of grand adventure to me. After all I was young and immortal. The sheer immensity of such an event ,and what it would entail, escaped me then. Too young and to self-centered I suppose. I just liked the imagery of Chuck Heston racing around a deserted L.A. in his red convertible with a sub-machine gun and wearing aviator sunglasses. Not the deepest thinker back then.
I read it again in 1992. I was older, my outlook had changed and I could appreciate aspects of King's writing that went over my head seven years earlier. Still had a secret belief that the "End Of Everything" would be a grand adventure though.
Alright so lets jump to 2005. Boy how things had changed. Now I was married, a father of two children, well into my career, a proud owner of a mortgage - I mean a house, and somebody who had many reasons for the "system" to continue to function.
The idea of surviving my loved ones didn't seem so grand after all. Instead of being a terrific adventure tale I found myself reading a tragedy and a terrifying one at that. I realized that I had absolutely no desire to experience the end of the world. Ah some maturity at last with a little fear thrown in for good measure. With all the talk about Bird Flu and SARS at that time (2005) I realized that a global pandemic wasn't such a grand thing.
Read it again a few years ago (2010). I decided that in this (now) gloomy time it might be interesting. Still scary, but now I wonder is this what the world and Humanity needs? A time of rest or maybe a giant enema? Oh good grief. But the most unsettling thing is that I know (or at least suspect) that I ,and those I care about, would probably be among the dead. My days of being immortal are over.
I don't like to use the words genius and masterpiece. They're overused. But King wrote an interesting novel. One that has aged very well.The end of the modern world. Whew. That's a big event.The novel actually works on different levels. Levels that are more understandable as one gets older.
ADDITIONAL
I do have a few observations about the 1978 edition vs. the 1990 expanded edition.
The biggest thing about the novel is that it was written by King in the mid-seventies when he was in his mid-twenties. Which probably explains the.....I guess the "attitude" of the story. Call it a Seventies Vibe. It works and I like it. An acquaintance of mine describes the novel as a "counterculture wet dream" and I would have to agree with him in many respects.
Lately I've begun to take into account how old an author was when he or she wrote their novel or short story. It's important I think. With a long time writer like King (who has been getting published for over forty years now)it can really explain allot. Even King in a new introduction to the recent paperback printing of "The Shining" says that there is a cocky tone to the writing. King was in his twenties. We are always changing as we go through our life. Opinions, beliefs, and so on do not stay the same. Where the writer is in their life when they wrote a particular story or novel is important to understanding why the story takes the path it does. Well at least for me it's important. It helps me to enjoy the reading experience more.
For example, during the mid-90's I was more in tune with the cutting edge and popular ideas and fads. The various clever little phrases like "My bad" and "Baby's got back" , the hottest bands (Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots anyone?), coolest actors (Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey) etc. I was also cockier and quicker with a sarcastic retort.
I wonder if this is true for many folks. Now I really don't care so much about the flavors of the month. I have other things to deal with. My twenty year old daughter sometimes finds me "so nineties".
Anyway I think this can be applied to The Stand . It's a novel that is a creature of the mid-seventies written by an intelligent young man in his twenties and very involved with the current events and attitudes of the time. Well I don't know if he was "very" involved, but most people are more in tune with pop culture in their twenties.
Setting it in 1990 made it feel dated. But for whatever reason(s) Mr. King thought the story needed to be updated. As an old science fiction fan I would have kept it in 1980 and just stated that it was taking place in an alternate timeline. But it isn't my novel is it?
Well despite my quibbles The Stand has survived and is now considered a modern classic. If you doubt that watch the recent science fiction movie "Interstellar". There are several scenes that take place in the young daughter's bedroom. She has a wall of books. Due to the conditions on Earth people have been reduced to farming and things such as books are no longer being manufactured or not very many. The daughter has a library of classic books. Books that will no longer be printed. Featured prominently among her library is the 1978 hardback edition of The Stand. Need I say more?
I first read it in the summer of 1985 at the age of seventeen. The end of the world seemed like some type of grand adventure to me. After all I was young and immortal. The sheer immensity of such an event ,and what it would entail, escaped me then. Too young and to self-centered I suppose. I just liked the imagery of Chuck Heston racing around a deserted L.A. in his red convertible with a sub-machine gun and wearing aviator sunglasses. Not the deepest thinker back then.
I read it again in 1992. I was older, my outlook had changed and I could appreciate aspects of King's writing that went over my head seven years earlier. Still had a secret belief that the "End Of Everything" would be a grand adventure though.
Alright so lets jump to 2005. Boy how things had changed. Now I was married, a father of two children, well into my career, a proud owner of a mortgage - I mean a house, and somebody who had many reasons for the "system" to continue to function.
The idea of surviving my loved ones didn't seem so grand after all. Instead of being a terrific adventure tale I found myself reading a tragedy and a terrifying one at that. I realized that I had absolutely no desire to experience the end of the world. Ah some maturity at last with a little fear thrown in for good measure. With all the talk about Bird Flu and SARS at that time (2005) I realized that a global pandemic wasn't such a grand thing.
Read it again a few years ago (2010). I decided that in this (now) gloomy time it might be interesting. Still scary, but now I wonder is this what the world and Humanity needs? A time of rest or maybe a giant enema? Oh good grief. But the most unsettling thing is that I know (or at least suspect) that I ,and those I care about, would probably be among the dead. My days of being immortal are over.
I don't like to use the words genius and masterpiece. They're overused. But King wrote an interesting novel. One that has aged very well.The end of the modern world. Whew. That's a big event.The novel actually works on different levels. Levels that are more understandable as one gets older.
ADDITIONAL
I do have a few observations about the 1978 edition vs. the 1990 expanded edition.
The biggest thing about the novel is that it was written by King in the mid-seventies when he was in his mid-twenties. Which probably explains the.....I guess the "attitude" of the story. Call it a Seventies Vibe. It works and I like it. An acquaintance of mine describes the novel as a "counterculture wet dream" and I would have to agree with him in many respects.
Lately I've begun to take into account how old an author was when he or she wrote their novel or short story. It's important I think. With a long time writer like King (who has been getting published for over forty years now)it can really explain allot. Even King in a new introduction to the recent paperback printing of "The Shining" says that there is a cocky tone to the writing. King was in his twenties. We are always changing as we go through our life. Opinions, beliefs, and so on do not stay the same. Where the writer is in their life when they wrote a particular story or novel is important to understanding why the story takes the path it does. Well at least for me it's important. It helps me to enjoy the reading experience more.
For example, during the mid-90's I was more in tune with the cutting edge and popular ideas and fads. The various clever little phrases like "My bad" and "Baby's got back" , the hottest bands (Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots anyone?), coolest actors (Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey) etc. I was also cockier and quicker with a sarcastic retort.
I wonder if this is true for many folks. Now I really don't care so much about the flavors of the month. I have other things to deal with. My twenty year old daughter sometimes finds me "so nineties".
Anyway I think this can be applied to The Stand . It's a novel that is a creature of the mid-seventies written by an intelligent young man in his twenties and very involved with the current events and attitudes of the time. Well I don't know if he was "very" involved, but most people are more in tune with pop culture in their twenties.
Setting it in 1990 made it feel dated. But for whatever reason(s) Mr. King thought the story needed to be updated. As an old science fiction fan I would have kept it in 1980 and just stated that it was taking place in an alternate timeline. But it isn't my novel is it?
Well despite my quibbles The Stand has survived and is now considered a modern classic. If you doubt that watch the recent science fiction movie "Interstellar". There are several scenes that take place in the young daughter's bedroom. She has a wall of books. Due to the conditions on Earth people have been reduced to farming and things such as books are no longer being manufactured or not very many. The daughter has a library of classic books. Books that will no longer be printed. Featured prominently among her library is the 1978 hardback edition of The Stand. Need I say more?
