Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: Stephen King’s Transcendent Writers: Stereotypes or Archetypes?

Chapter 2: ‘The Body’

Chapter 3: Carrie

Chapter 4: The Shining

Chapter 5: ’Salem’s Lot

Chapter 6: Stories within Stories: Adolescence and Education

Conclusion

Literature

About the Author

Joeri Pacolet teaches philosophy in several schools in and near Leiden, The Netherlands.

Reviews

"Several King scholars have explored the central role the fictive writer plays as a metatextual reference point in King’s landscape. But no one has analyzed this figure with greater insight or originality than Joeri Pacolet. The argument for reading core King texts—Carrie, ‘Salem’s Lot, "The Body," and The Shining—in the context of post-Jungian theory will surprise and enrich readers of both Jung and King. With the publication of Transcendent Writers in Stephen King’s Fiction, Pacolet establishes himself as the authoritative voice on the role of the writer and the act of writing in the King multiverse." Tony Magistrale (professor), Forrmer Chair of the English Department, University of Vermont, author of The Shawshank Experience."Transcendent Writers in Stephen King’s Fiction takes psychology into literature in a provocative re-imagining of three important areas: Jungian psychology, literary criticism and popular culture. Following C. G. Jung, Pacolet shows the puer aeternus or the perpetual adolescent to signify psychological rejuvenation rather than stuckness. Literary criticism, is enriched by his new theory of the ‘transcendent writer’ or a writer-protagonist who can steer readers towards maturation and wholeness. Finally, popular culture generates revelatory psychic narratives of social as well as individual renewal. This stunning book is not to be missed by creative Jungians and cultural critics."Susan Rowland (Professor) Co-Chair MA Engaged Humanities, Pacifica Graduate Institute, author of Jungian Literary Criticism: the Essential Guide."With his perceptive Jungian analyses of the theme of the fictional author’s return to youth in the works of Stephen King, Joeri Pacolet at once enriches understanding of the positive role of adolescence in psychological development and adds the important term of ‘the transcendent writer’ to the lexicon of literary theory."Professor Roderick Main, Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, UK.