D E S P E R A T I O N . D K - D A N S E M A C A B R E

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This book is in your hands as the result of a telephone call made to me in November of 1978.

It is in this book that King's famous quote comes from: I recognize terror as the finest emotion and so I will try to terrorize the reader. But if I find that I cannot terrify, I will try to horrify, and if I find that I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gross-out. I'm not proud.

Danse Macabre is a nonfiction book on horror fiction and United States pop culture. Examining influences on King's writing, it focuses on films and novels of the genre from a fan's perspective, discussing archetypes, narrative devices, and "the psychology of terror."

"I recognize terror as the finest emotion and so I will try to terrorize the reader. But if I find that I cannot terrify, I will try to horrify, and if I find that I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gross-out. I'm not proud."

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DESCRIPTION

Written : 1980

Non-fiction...

Synopsis :
One of Stephen King's few non-fiction pieces, this time dealing with the horror in books, films, and TV from the 1950's through to the 1970's.

REVIEW

Initially the book was an idea put forward by Bill Thompson, King's editor at Doubleday, and it bloomed into one of the best collections of horror anecdotes and memorabilia that has ever been written.

EDITIONS

FIRST EDITION

Everest 1981.

15 signed and lettered A-O, 35 copies publishers state no limitation notice, 250 signed. Everest House also did the 1st mass printing.
"RRD281" on copyright page.

Dust Jacket price: $13.95

MY EDITION

Futura Publications 1988.
479 pages.
ISBN 0 7088 2181 2.

Copyright © Stephen King, 1981.

Fiction: Non-fiction

BOOK BREAKDOWN

Forenote

I
October 4, 1957, and an Invitation to Dance

II
Tales of the Hook

III
Tales of the Tarot

IV
An Annoying Autobiographical Pause

V
Radio and the Set of Reality

VI
The Modern American Horror Movie - Text and Subtext

VII
The Horror Movie as Junk Food

VIII
The Glass Teat, or, This Monster Was Brought to You by Gainesburgers

IX
Horror Fiction

X
The Last Waltz-Horror and Morality, Horror and Magic

Afterword
Appendix 1. The Films
Appendix 2. The Books
Index

BACKCOVER

DANSE MACABRE
is a unique combination of fantasy and autobiography, of classic horror writing honed to an unforgettable edge; an analysis of horror, terror and the supernatural in films, television and books by the bestselling master of the genre - Stephen King.

Ranging across the whole spectrum of horror in popular culture and going back to the seminal classics of Count Dracula and Frankenstein, Stephen King describes his ideas on how horror works at many levels, and how he brings it to bear in his own inimitable novels.