Stephen King and the Construction of Authorship As a Mass-Mediated Practice
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Stephen King and the Construction of Authorship as a Mass-Mediated Practice By Despoina N. Feleki A dissertation submitted to the Department of American Literature and Culture, School of English, Faculty of Philosophy, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Greece July 2015 Dissertation Committee: Approved Tatiani G. Rapatzikou, Adviser ____________________ Michalis Kokonis, Co-Adviser ____________________ Domna Pastourmatzi, Co-Adviser ____________________ Contents Abstract _____________________________________________________ v Acknowledgements ____________________________________________ vii INTRODUCTION ____________________________________________ ix PART I LITERARY DEPARTURES AND MEDIA CONVERGENCES Chapter One: Literary Traditions Re-visited and Contemporary Gothic Shifts ________________________________________________________ 3 1.1 Re-positioning the Gothic in Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story ___________ 4 1.2 Textual Explorations and the Physicality of the Written Text in Duma Key ________________________________________________ 34 Chapter Two: Re-inventing the Narrative Process _________________ 51 2.1 Media Perspectives and Remediated Writing Forms: Polyglot Narration in Duma Key ______________________________________ 52 2.2 The Visual versus the Media Turn in Duma Key and in Lisey’s Story __ 76 PART II STEPHEN KING’S FICTION IN DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS Chapter Three: New Literary Landscapes for Stephen King _________ 89 3.1 New Media and Literary Convergences: Stephen King’s Ventures on Digitality ______________________________________________ 90 3.2 Re-mapping the Literary Landscape: The Case of UR _____________ 104 3.3 E- Space as Remediation of the Printed Page: StephenKing.com _____ 119 Chapter Four: The Digital Experience: Discordia _________________ 141 4.1 Stephen King’s New Paradigm: Discordia between Narratology and Cinematography _______________________________________ 142 4.2 The Discordia Computer Experience at the Intersection of Multiple Practices _________________________________________152 4.3 Discordia: A Multi-Sensory Experience for Gamers ______________ 173 PART III POPULAR TEXTS, AUTHOR(S) AND FANS IN THE AGE OF DIGITALITY Chapter Five: Stephen King’s Popular Digital Production__________ 189 5.1 Stephen King’s Experimentation within Popular Culture ___________ 190 5.2 Stephen King’s Pop as a Commodity and a New Cultural Space _____ 208 5.3 New Relations Arising – A New Consumer Consciousness _________ 220 Chapter Six: Popular Authorship Reconfigured __________________ 237 6.1 Repositioning the Author: Stephen King’s Authorial Persona in New Media Culture _____________________________________ 238 6.2 Authorship on the Move and Stephen King as Brand: “King’s Empire” 253 EPILOGUE _______________________________________________ 265 Works Cited _______________________________________________ 272 Biographical Note ___________________________________________ 288 Abstract This dissertation undertakes to investigate the connections between textuality and technology within wider literary and socio-cultural contexts. It explores the various implications of a constantly mutating media culture with regard to Stephen King’s twenty- first century popular production, which flourishes both in print and in electronic environments. For this reason, it studies the literary and technological convergences that have emerged from the digital revolution in the late twentieth century. In an effort to revise traditional theories of horror writing, I highlight King’s literary departures and media shifts that have contributed to the re-invention of his writing craft. My project examines the diverse effects of King’s media turn on writing and reading practices as well as on authorial roles and intentions. Focusing on the potentials and constraints of electronic media and their interconnection with the content and form of King’s fictional works, I explore the different types of relationships that bind King’s authorial team and active audiences in the formation of an amplified literary experience within the context of present participatory culture and under the pressures of an insatiable entertainment industry. Then, I undertake to shed light on the latest marketing practices of the book and entertainment industries (with regard to King’s production) in favor of new transmedia franchises and the creation of a new consumer consciousness. In this dissertation, I focus on a selection of King’s printed novels and novellas of the twenty-first century, such as Lisey’s Story (2006), Duma Key (2008), and Ur (2009). I also examine Discordia (2009), King’s online interactive computer experience, as well as other electronic projects King creates for his readers on his official website (StephenKing.com). I aim at explaining the dynamic relations that arise and the new possibilities that open up with King’s authorial practices and his oscillation among different expressive modes and writing textualities. I depend on Narratology, New Media and Videogame Studies, Cinematography, Popular Culture, and Marketing Studies for the formation of an enhanced literary theoretical context. My intention is to facilitate the understanding among different disciplines and to contribute to a constructive dialogue among variable discourses, regarding popular fiction, the popular writer, and his constant readers in an electronically-mediated world. Acknowledgements During the years I have spent working on this dissertation I have been employed as an English educator in Greek Primary and Secondary Education and have offered my assistance in the teaching of undergraduate courses in the School of English, in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh) in Greece. My teaching in all levels of Education and the interdisciplinarity of my research interests have contributed to the development of this doctoral project. I am grateful to all my teachers and colleagues who have commented on this work and challenged my ideas. They have contributed to my understanding of the ever-evolving new media culture and helped me formulate my arguments. First and foremost, I would like to thank my Ph.D. and M.A. supervisor Dr. Tatiani G. Rapatzikou for showing me the way. The support and inspiration she has offered open-handedly all these years have helped me immensely. I am thankful to Dr. Michalis Kokonis for his presence and constructive interventions in all the “Research Day” events organized by the School of English, AUTh, as well as to Dr. Domna Pastourmatzi for her constructive comments. Professor Michael Joyce deserves special mention. My ideas on Authorship in electronic textualities began taking shape when he honored our School with his presence in Fall 2010. Thanks to Brian Stark, the graphics designer and active member of Stephen King's authorial team, who has helped me understand the intricate workings in King's fictional and real-life world. I am also thankful to the Administrators of King's Message Board for their immediate responses to my questions and requests. Early versions of the sections “Stephen King’s New Paradigm: Discordia between Narratology and Cinematography” and “The Discordia Computer Experience at the Intersection of Multiple Practices” appear in Writing Technologies, the online journal of the Nottingham Trent University. The main ideas that are expressed in Chapter Five have been based on my essay contribution to the Special Issue of Authorship Journal of Gent University. Many thanks to all the editors whose guidance and tips have also helped shape this doctoral dissertation. How can I forget all the members of our Multi-Modal Group for their cheerful support and feedback? Knowing they were there has meant a lot. The greatest thank you is for my loving husband Dejan, who has always stood by me and never stopped believing. I also want to thank my dearest children Tommy and Nick, who have waited patiently and hugged most affectionately. Soon they will understand. Last but not least, I want to thank my parents who have supported me in every way possible. Their love has meant the world to me. Feleki ix Introduction The intrusion of computational technologies in the infrastructure of developed Western societies has led to the digitization of all types of information. We detect the staggering increase of human interaction with electronic media that are used as vehicles for access and distribution of diverse media content. Also, noteworthy is the increasing tendency towards active participation in the creation and distribution of this new media content. Bearing in mind these developments, this dissertation commences an investigation into the technological, literary, and cultural intricacies that have affected the recent writing endeavors and commercial policies of Stephen King, the hugely popular American horror writer. By using as primary sources several of his popular works that have been published after the turn of the twenty-first century, I undertake the task to theorize about the irreversible effects of the new media revolution on popular fiction writing as well as on the writing and reading practices carried out by the writer and his audience respectively. The updated entry in the fourth edition of The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature under the name of Stephen King writes: American horror and fantasy writer, born in Maine, the location for much of his fiction. Initially, after Carrie (1974), he wrote as Richard Bachman—a clash of identities exploited in The Dark