Misery Day 1- Stephen King- 1947- Present- Grew up in Maine and still lives there- Carrie, his first novel, came out in 1973- Now has over 50 novels- not counting his other works- In 33 languages- 350 million copies of his books in print- Why Misery for us?- It is a good read and one of his better books- It is about a bestselling author- Marks a shift in King’s career- Misery comes out in 1987- In the broadest strokes, King’s career before Misery was largely about epic tales commenting on modern society- The Stand, It, The Talisman- The Smaller Scale-Two main characters- Psychological thriller- Tries to take female characterization more seriously- Allows for greater focus on details-Allows for a richer development of characters-Epigraph: Hinting at the Focus- Serves as a vital clue for focusing the themes of the novel- Two words- Goddess & Africa- Why Misery for King?- The Goddess- Annie is like a goddess in Paula’s life- She is his savior- She has the power over life & death- She has control over his life - King positions Annie as a goddess in several ways - One of the most interesting is that of divine muse- The Muse (of Terror)- Literature has a long tradition of the muse- A divine being who inspires the author- Authors, in turn, would often “invoke the muse” in order to help them write- King offers us a terrifying muse in Misery- Rather than a kind, artsy muse, King offers us Annie- Annie is the force behind Paul’s new novel- Like a muse, Annie is unpredictable- She is also terrifying- She is based, in part, on the Greek goddess Artemis- Artemis- Twin sister of the sun god, Apollo- She is the moon goddess- she controls the tides- She is a scary muse- She is the vengeful hunter goddess of the forest- Vindictive- swift and proud in her fury- She is her own master and takes no orders - She punishes severely what she sees as the slightest negligence in honoring her- Because King is exploring the terrifying nature of writing in this book- King takes his fear of writer’s block to a whole new level- What if your life depends on not getting Writer’s Block? King makes writing a life or death venture- Stories as Life and Death Endeavors- Scheherazade- 1001 Arabian Nights- Told stories to stay alive- The phrase “Open Sesame” comes from these stories- Much like Paul’s need to find a magic formula to get out of Annie’s house- The Misery of Writing- Writing can be a terrifying process- Writing can also have terrifying results- What role does terrifying writing have in the lives of readers- What role does terrifying writing have in the lives of readers- Can such writing turn them into monsters?Misery Day 2- Crying is for Sissies- Empathy- What is it? - Identification with and understanding of another’s situation- King makes empathy an important theme in Misery- Being able to identify with others is an important skill for a writer- To Paul’s mom his act of empathy acts as a …- Paul resents the Misery series mostly female fans for their resistance to his “serious’ works- Refers to Misery as “a silly bitch” and celebrates when she dies- It’s safe to say that Paul does not feel a great deal of empathy for his women readers or his star character- How does Paul deal with his empathy problem?- First, by turning away from his popular fiction and towards Fast Cars, a serious novel featuring a young male lead character- Paul craves respect from a male-dominated literary establishment- He hopes Fast Cars will earn the American book award- He obsesses over his book’s reception by male critics- Indicators of Paul’s Concern with Masculinity - He judges himself in a conventionally masculine terms like bravery- He feels “unmanning guilt” at being caught smoking by his mother- He drives a classic “muscle car”- ’74 Camero- Popular vs. Serious Literature- Paul Sheldon’s MachoMobile- Empathizing to Survive- To Annie, the Misery books are Paul’s serious works- Her emotional investment in the books is so intense that it’s a matter of life and death for her and Paul- What does Paul learn about Annie from her Rocket Man story? - She has a brother named Paul- She is a passionate fan- Her sense of what’s fair in fiction is not so different from his own - His empathy for Annie grew- Both Paul and Annie are wounded- While Paul’s wounds are physical, Annie’s are mostly psychological- Oddly enough, Paul’s misery at Annie’s hands enables him to identify withher misery- Paul also comes to identify with Scheherazde, he is telling stories to stay alive- He also identifies with Misery - Annie’s empathy problem- Like Paul, Annie shows empathy toward an animal- Poor Poor Things- “She looked down at the rat and a tear fell onto its matted fur”- She kills the rat rather than spare it- What appears to be genuine empathy is actually a projection of Annie’s own misery- She feels sorry not for the rat ( or for Paul) so much as herselfMisery Day 3- Addiction- Provides a motivation for Paul to keep writing- A second answer is more thematic- King is interested in exploring the issue of addiction- Writing Romances- The theme of addiction is closely tied to King’s choice to make Paul Sheldon a writer of romances- Sheldon admits that 90% of his readers are women- There are two reasons for making Paul a writer of romances- King is making a comment on the bestselling genre of best sellers- 40% of all paperbacks produced in the U.S. are romances- They have a huge and loyal following- They are also among the most predictable of genres- Readers buy endlessly repetitive novels just to “get their fix”- The Addicted Reader- These readership themes are echoed in Paul’s addiction to Novril- It is no accident that Novril sounds like “novel”- Paul has learned to attract and addict readers to his numerous Misery novels- As we see with Annie, they are in misery until the next installment comes out- Paul is addicted to Novril because it lulls his pain like the Misery novels lull Annie’s pain- Real Readers- King even does this to us through his novels- We find ourselves compelled to read on- even when part of us doesn’t want to- Much like Paul reading Annie’s scrapbook- Page turners can be addictive- King also knows tat bestselling authors in real life face certain writing addictions- They can write for adulation- Writing becomes more about being popular than about art- For money- Writ e according to a formula because it is safe and easy- Battle for