Danse Macabre 1981 Everest House 400 pages Limited Edition Info Published by Everest House, 1981 15 lettered and signed by Stephen King 250 numbered and signed by King For more information, visit www.stephenkingcollector.com

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...sometimes they turn off the lights in this ballroom...

A Nonfiction Critique

For years, Danse Macabre was (until the follow-up On Writing was published in 1999) Stephen King's only full-length non-fiction work. Again and again, he has demonstrated with his foreward and afterword essays accompanying his novels that he can write nonfiction ... and write it well (see either essay about being Bachman for proof.) So why is he reluctant to write book-length truth?

In King's words: "The writer of nonfiction is all too visible." He wouldn't be able to make up things, or get facts slightly wrong, or embellish. Everything had to be a dance with honesty; a danse macabre discussing the necessity of the horror genre. Does King dance?

He dances quite well, in fact. His discussions (often scholarly, with a hint of the I'm-just-a-regular-guy English teacher patter thrown in) touch on origins of horror in all forms of popular media: radio, television, film, and books. He breaks apart television shows like Dark Shadows and proves their relevence, making one wonder if horror schlock is really schlock after all. He brings back memories of old radio shows such as Thriller and The Inner Sanctum (if you haven't heard "Three Skeleton Key," you don't know what fear is -- ed.) The chapter entitled "The Modern American Horror Movie" includes an extremely funny quiz -- he describes the horror film, the reader tries to guess what it is.

And then he touches on the books. These are the best chapters, because King is and always will be a book man. He delves deep into the three (or four) classic symbols of horror liturature, and their classic definitive work: The Vampire (from Dracula), the Beast Within (Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde) the Creature Without a Name (Frankenstein), and, lesser, the Ghost (The Turn of the Screw.) Then, he begins applying these archetypes to modern horror stories: the amazing thing is, almost all modern horror can be traces back to these four.

And, of course, he discusses his own influences. In detail, King describes the work of Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, and Ira levin. He goes into lengthy probes about The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons (who returned the favor later by writing an essay on Firestarter in the Plume Collector's Edition), Julia by Peter Straub (who cowrote The Talisman with King) and The Incredible Shrinking Man, again, by Matheson. The essays and discussions are all handled with great literacy -- the fact that King was a teacher is not lost on this writing. Still, he somehow manages to retain sthe voice of his novels, for once making nonfiction exciting to read. (His so-called "Annoying Autobiographical Puase" is anything but -- it rebeals a nice little story about King, his uncle, and a defining moment of faith.)

The Indexes at the end of Danse Macabre include two lists -- 100 Defining Works of Horror, first in film, then in books. A reader searching for origins of horror or simply influences affecting King's or his or her own writing could do worse off than here.

Try the danse. You'll be waltzing ... forever.

Personal Observations

Like many King readers, I was reluctant to try Danse Macabre. I've never been a big fan of nonfiction, and even a discussion of the horror genre by my favorite author made me apprehensive.

Still, I'm nothing if not a completist, and I tried the danse. I loved it. The book, as I've mentioned, is so much easier to read than I would have thought. And funny, too -- that horror movie quiz actually had me laughing out loud.

Better than that, though -- the book opened up a new world of horror to me. I've since become a big fan of Richard Matheson (read The Incredible Shrinking Man and Now You See It... -- the latter I read in three hours!), James Dickey's Deliverance has become my favorite non-King book, and I've gained a new appreciation for horror as a legitimate genre. I don't feel like I'm slumming when I write anymore.

I'm a dansing machine (watch it kick out!) (Wow. I'm really sorry.)

Dedication