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bucher_freund 's review for:
Danse Macabre
by Stephen King
challenging
dark
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
"We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones."
Two questions have fascinated me practically my whole life: What makes good storytelling? Why am I so drawn to the horror genre? I first read this book years and years ago, probably as a teen. Then and now, I picked it up looking for King's take on the answers.
Danse Macabre was first published in 1981, and covers the horror genre (in radio, TV, film, and written fiction) from about 1950-1980. It's part opinion piece, part autobiography, part recommendation guide (it's full of reading and watching musts). It is also, reading it over 40 years after it was written, a pretty interesting time capsule (in little throw away details and comments, like looking up movie times in the newspaper, or King musing that that Spielberg guy has promise but his best work is probably still ahead of him).
It's filled with profound observations about the genre, and I highlighted more from this book than anything else I've ever read. Be warned, King can go off on some long, rambling bits and it makes many sections a slog. Overall though, a very worthwhile read for anyone interested in examining the questions I stated above.
"...the next time [someone] asks you why you want to go and see that crap, tell them this: Stephen King sent me. He told me to look out for the good ones, because they're the ones that speak to what's good in the human heart. And, of course, to what isn't. Because those are the things you have to look out for."
Two questions have fascinated me practically my whole life: What makes good storytelling? Why am I so drawn to the horror genre? I first read this book years and years ago, probably as a teen. Then and now, I picked it up looking for King's take on the answers.
Danse Macabre was first published in 1981, and covers the horror genre (in radio, TV, film, and written fiction) from about 1950-1980. It's part opinion piece, part autobiography, part recommendation guide (it's full of reading and watching musts). It is also, reading it over 40 years after it was written, a pretty interesting time capsule (in little throw away details and comments, like looking up movie times in the newspaper, or King musing that that Spielberg guy has promise but his best work is probably still ahead of him).
It's filled with profound observations about the genre, and I highlighted more from this book than anything else I've ever read. Be warned, King can go off on some long, rambling bits and it makes many sections a slog. Overall though, a very worthwhile read for anyone interested in examining the questions I stated above.
"...the next time [someone] asks you why you want to go and see that crap, tell them this: Stephen King sent me. He told me to look out for the good ones, because they're the ones that speak to what's good in the human heart. And, of course, to what isn't. Because those are the things you have to look out for."