The Shining by Stephen King: a couple of excerpts

There is one paragraph in The Shining where Stephen King describes the psychic occurrences at the Overlook hotel.  Very imaginative.

In wasn't a perception of sight or sound, although it was very near to those things, separated from those senses by the filmiest of perceptual curtains.  It was as if another Overlook now lay scant inches beyond this one, separated from the real world (if there is such a thing as a "real word," Jack thought) but gradually coming into balance with it.  He was reminded of the 3-D movies he'd seen as a kid. If you looked at the screen without the special glasses, you saw a double image--the sort of thing he was feeling now. But when you put the glasses on, it made sense.  

All the hotel's eras were together now, all but this current one, the Torrance Era.  And this would be together with the rest very soon now.  That was good.  That was very good.

I love the analogy of the old 3-D movies.



The novel was originally written in 1977.  In the 2001 introduction to the novel, King commented about his interaction with Stanley Kubrick. They discussed how the story blurs the supernatural and the psychotic.

My single conversation with the late Stanley Kubrick, about six months before he commence filing his version of The Shining, suggested that it was this quality about the story that appealed to him:  What, exactly, is impelling Jack Torrance toward murder in the winter-isolated rooms and hallways of the Overlook Hotel?  Is it undead people, or undead memories?  Mr Kubrick and I came to difference conclusions (I always thought there were malevolent ghosts in the Overlook, driving Jack to the precipice), but perhaps those different conclusions are in fact, the same.  For aren't memories the true ghosts of our lives?  Do they not drive all of us to words and acts we regret from time to time.

Kubrick and "The Making of The Shining"

I have been reviewing some of Stanley Kubrick's work.  Kubrick is a great example of a visionary and someone strongly driven by passion. 

As part of the "Stanley Kubrick Collection" on VHS, "The Shining" stars off with "The Making of The Shining" by Stanley's wife, Vivian Kubrick. 

Two particular scenes stood out. 

• At a large table, Jack Nicholson is reviewing lines at one corner, Shelley Duvall is reviewing lines at another corner, and Stanley Kubrick is typing new script revisions at another corner.  There are several points in "The Making of The Shining" where they discuss the on-going evolution of the script.
• There is one scene in the movie where Nicholson is locked in a walk-in freeze and he is talking to Duvall.  In planning the scene, Stanley Kubrick is looking for the best angle to film.  He finally decides on lying down with a camera under Nicholas who is leaning against the freeze door.

In addition to "The Shining," I have recently watched "Spartacus", "The Killer's Kiss", and "Clockwork Orange".  Each one captures Kubrick's passion and vision at different points in his career.