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The Bachman Books |
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...he took on his own reality, that's all...
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The Bachman Books |
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When I was a junior in high school, heavily in the first throes of my Stephen King madness, my Advanced English teacher, Ms. Cosgrove, gave the class a dream assignment: “You can write your term paper about anything you want to, as long as it’s about books.” Well, it was a dream assignment for me. I avoided the audible groans coming from all around and immediately began plotting an outline. See, Marlon, the North American Nerd in his fertile period.
I decided that my term paper had to be about the whole Richard Bachman phenomenon. Even as a kid, I was fascinated by the concept of pseudonyms. Even more, I was fascinated that Stephen King, my grand idol, was fascinated with them. By the time I finally read The Dark Half and began blitzing out on the whole concept, I’d read The Bachman Books in total about three times. The novels themselves thrilled me. Rage seemed to sum up everything I was feeling about high school at the time. The Long Walk disturbed the hell out of me. Roadwork gave me a bleak glimpse into a future where decisions are made for you without your consent, and you’re powerless to stop them. And The Running Man … well, it sure as hell wasn’t like the movie.
But it was the whole pseudonym deal itself that wowed me the most: why it happened, how it happened, and the particulars that lead the most popular writer in the world to create a whole new, far less likable, persona for himself.
The initial Bachman essay, “Why I Was Bachman” (included with the first omnibus edition) goes a little way toward explaining that stuff. Basically, King was bothered by the fact that his success might have been a fluke, and wanted to see if it was the work, not the name, that was pushing the books. He goes on to indicate his more grandiose plans for Bachman, who was never meant to be a five-trick pony. If King’s essay is short on real analysis (and, perhaps startlingly, long on glibness), it’s with good reason: King didn’t want Bachman to go away, and he was still hurting from it.
When The Bachman Books was released in a new omnibus edition preceding the release of The Regulators, King had had more time to ruminate on the dark half he referred to as “Dicky.” He explains that, when the idea for The Regulators came to him, the idea that Bachman – or at least Bachman’s output – didn’t have to be dead came along with it. While Thinner might have been Bachman’s last novel, that didn’t mean that Bachman hadn’t left any books behind when he died. Thus, The Regulators, as well as the upcoming Blaze, could be explained as “posthumous” novels. I think that’s neat.
King also takes the time to explicate more fully why he chose to be Bachman way back when, and why he’s chosen to revisit his pseudonym now. Both essays – even the more obtuse “Why I Was Bachman” – are remarkably inward-looking. Until On Writing came out, I don’t think that there were better instances of King’s naked self-analysis. I think that’s neat, too.
Some interesting notes: in “Why I Was Bachman,” written in 1985, King refers to Roadwork as “probably the worst of the lot.” In “The Importance of Being Bachman,” he calls Roadwork, “my favorite of the early Bachman books.” How perceptions change. Also: in the latter essay, King talks a little nervously about Rage, and its conjunction with several deadly school shootings at the time. Like many artists, he seems to question whether the perception of the audience is the responsibility of the creator. Shortly after, King decided that, even if Rage wasn’t to blame for the shootings, it might act as an accelerant. King pulled the book from publication, spinning The Long Walk, Roadwork, and The Running Man into their own volumes. Rage remains the only Stephen King novel out of print.
King is still fascinated by his pseudonym, and I am still fascinated by his fascination. The fact that King continues to spin the fiction of Bachman as a real person – complete with a wife, a history, and a trunk of complete or nearly-complete novels left behind – is a testament to the power of creativity. Some people might not get it (a common complaint is, “Is there anyone who doesn’t know King is Bachman?”), but I think I understand. Sometimes you just need to let your dark half free.