Haunting us with such unforgettable stories as The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption, Salem's Lot, Carrie, The Green Mile, and Pet Sematary, Stephen King has been an anchor of American horror, science fiction, psychological thrillers, and suspense for more than forty years. His characters have brought chills to our spines and challenged our notions of reality while leaving us in awe of the perseverance of the human spirit. The first book in the new Great Authors and Philosophy series, Stephen King and Philosophy reveals some of the deeper issues raised by King's work. From retribution, freedom, and moral relativity, to death and insanity, the chapters of this book expose how King's stories access the questions and fears that haunt each of us in the middle of the night. Contributions by Katherine Allen, Randall E. Auxier, Charles Bane, Matthew Butkus, Kellye Byal, Cam Cobb, Timothy Dale, Paul R. Daniels, Joseph J. Foy, Bertha Alvarez Manninen, Tuomas W. Manninen, Garret Merriam, Michael K. Potter, and C. Taylor Sutton
Introduction: On Writing Popular Philosophy 1 Jacob M. Held 1 There Is No God in Desperation: Tak and the Problem of Evil 13 C. Taylor Sutton and Jacob Held 2 Female Subjectivity in Carrie 35 Kellye Byal 3 "Sometimes Dead Is Better": King, Daedalus, Dragon- Tyrants, and Deathism 47 Katherine Allen 4 "Gan Is Dead": Nietzsche and Roland's Eternal Recurrence 71 Garret Merriam 5 Rama of Gilead: Hindu Philosophy in The Dark Tower 83 Matthew A. Butkus 6 What's Wrong with Roland?: Utilitarianism and the Dark Tower 97 Greg Littmann 7 Stephen King and Aristotelian Friendship: An Analysis of The Body and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption 113 Bertha Alvarez Manninen 8 Propaganda and Pedagogy for Apt Pupils 131 Michael K. Potter and Cam Cobb 9 The Shining's Overlook Hotel as Heterotopia 147 Elizabeth Hornbeck 10 Broadcast Dystopia: Power and Violence in The Running Man and The Long Walk 161 Joseph J. Foy and Timothy M. Dale 11 Stephen King and the Art of Horror 173 Greg Littmann 12 "You Weren't Hired to Philosophize, Torrance": The Death of the Author in The Shining 195 Charles Bane 13 What Happens to the Present When It Becomes the Past: Time Travel and the Nature of Time in The Langoliers 207 Paul R. Daniels 14 Notes on Foreknowledge, Truthmaking, and Counterfactuals from The Dead Zone 219 Tuomas W. Manninen 15 Time Belongs to the Tower 231 Randall Auxier 16 Ur 88,416 253 Randall Auxier 17 From Desperation to Haven: Horror, Compassion, and Arthur Schopenhauer 277 Jacob M. Held Ka-tet: Author Biographies 299
