ALL1498-C 12 Weeks Wednesday 12:00-1:20 Start Date 16-Sep
Grossman 106 Limit 25
Stephen King has sold half a billion books, terrified three generations of readers, and quietly written some of the most searching fiction about ordinary American life ever published. This 12-week course uses King’s short story collection Bazaar of Bad Dreams as our spine, reading all 20 stories while pausing to explore six major novels. We’ll read King as craftsman, as biographical subject and as a mirror held up to what frightens us most—as individuals and as a country. No prior King experience required; all are welcome at this table. Read “Introduction,” “Mile 81” and “Premium Harmony.” Focus on the first sentences of each story and how King hooks immediately. Also consider how King discusses his philosophy of the short story as “a kiss in the dark,” and how he uses his settings—particularly Maine—as almost a character.
Coordinator: Lew Taylor 
Lew holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in American History. Though his academic roots are in history and political science, his true passion has always been the Golden Age of Mysteries and the darker side of fiction—from Agatha Christie’s elegant puzzles to Darcy Coates’s atmospheric horror to the incomparable Stephen King.