Imagining the Worst

KATHLEEN LANT is Professor of English at California Polytechnic State University where she is also Coordinator of Instructional Technology for the College of Liberal Arts./e Her publications include work on Harriet Beecher Stowe, Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Tennessee Williams, Stephen King, Louisa May Alcott, Sulvia Plath, and educational technology.THERESA THOMPSON is Assistant Professor of English at Valdosta State University in Georgia./e She has also published articles on Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Edward Said, and D. H. Lawrence.

Stephen King has been hailed as a writer of the late 20th century Everyman, yet his representations of women remain debatable. These essays not only explore his portrayal of female characters, they illuminate Stephen King's own psychology and that of our culture's fears, anxieties, and feminine obsessions. The various works examined include Carrie, Gerald's Game, Rose Madder, Holloween, Friday the 13th, Dolores Claiborne, It, Christine, and Misery. The essays progress through various discussions of female power versus male authority, the association of female with evil, and King's monster imagery associated with the mother-figure characters. Written by various scholars and professors, these essays offer rare insight into the treatement of the female characters of Stephen King's imagination.The works of Stephen King are as popular as they are contested. Delineated by his precise commentary on the late 20th century culture, and most notably American culture, his horror fiction strikes a more specific, personal note with readers. These essays tap into the feminine aspect of King's social commentary. Concentrating on his treatment of female characters, these essays explore Stephen King's exposure of the fears, anxieties, and obsessions concerning the female and feminine that our culture harbors. The numerous works analyzed in this book provide a comprehensive study of King's treatment of the feminine, and what it implies about our culture and Stephen King.

Scholarly essays exploring Stephen King's representation of women in his fiction.

PrefaceIntroduction by Kathleen Margaret Lant and Theresa ThompsonThe American Context and Constructions of the FemaleCotton Mather and Stephen King: Writing/Righting the Body Politic by Ed Ingebretsen, S.J.Patriarchal Mediations of Carrie: The Book, The Movie, and the Musical by Douglas KeeseyRituals of Male Violence: Unlocking the (Fe)male Self in Gerald's Game by Thesesa ThompsonWomen and GenreRepulsive Attractions: "The Raft", the Vagina Dentata, and the Slasher Formula by Leonard CassutoThe Power of the Feminine and the Gendered Construction of Horror in Stephen King's "The Reach" by André DecuirGerald's Game and Dolores Claiborne: Stephen King and the Evolution of an Authentic Female Narrative Voice by Carol SenfEvil and Female Essence"Oh Dear Jesus It Is Female": Monster as Mother/Mother as Monster in Stephen King's IT by Linda AndersonIT, A Sexual Fantasy by Karen ThoensMasculine Power and the "Problem" of the Female BodyCars and Girls: Sexual Power and Sexual Panic in Stephen King's Christine by Ed MaddenThe Rape of Constant Reader: Stephen King's Construction of the Female Reader and Violation of the Female Body in Misery by Kathleen Margaret LantSelected Bibliography of Works on Stephen KingIndex