Enhance Your Experience

Videos, Reading & Resources

These resources are designed to enhance your experience of The Shining. Having re-defined the horror genre in its time, Stephen King’s novel has inspired the famous movie, a television mini-series, and a sequel novel by the author himself – in addition to the opera 

STEPHEN KING

Stephen King established himself as a preeminent writer in the horror genre with The Shining, published in 1977. The themes are like others in his literary output: the thin line dividing reality from fantasy. His frightening plots emerge from ordinary daily routines. The storylines are not scary in and of themselves. But the way that bizarre occurrences affect believable characters cause terror to the reader. The ways ordinary people become monstrous by their own doing, mirroring King’s own history of drug and alcohol abuse.

Stephen King

Stephen King

Biography & Personal History

Writing Your Fear: Stephen King's 'The Shining'

Writing Your Fear: Stephen King's 'The Shining'

by Grady Hendrix

The Great Stephen King Reread

The Great Stephen King Reread

by Grady Hendrix

Everything you've ever wanted to know about Stephen King

Everything you've ever wanted to know about Stephen King

by Tor.com

The Shining as Gothic Literature 

The Shining contains many elements of Gothic literature. It is rooted in the power of the past and how irrational violence influences the world.  What Makes a Gothic Novel  (Carla M. Paton. The Writing Collective. 2022, Mar 2) – Atmosphere & setting, Visions and Omens, Supernatural events: Mystery & fear, Women in distress, Tyranny of men. Enjoy these other examples of gothic literature.

Frankenstein

Frankenstein

by Mary Shelley

The Turn of the Screw

The Turn of the Screw

by Henry James

Beloved

Beloved

by Toni Morrison

The Masque of the Red Death

The Masque of the Red Death

by Edgar Allan Poe

Mexican Gothic

Mexican Gothic

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

WHY DO WE CRAVE HORROR?

Recreational Fear Lab

A research center at Aarhus University, Denmark studying frightening leisure activities, such as haunted house attractions and horror movies, and are interested in the psychological, physiological, and social dimensions of recreational fear.

A Very Nervous Person's Guide to Horror Movies

A Very Nervous Person's Guide to Horror Movies

by Mathias Clasen

STEPHEN KING ON STAGE

Dolores Claiborne

Dolores Claiborne

An opera by Tobias Picker Libretto by J. D. McClatchy

San Francisco Opera World Premiere production featuring Patricia Racette & Catherine Cook in the title role 

Misery

Misery

A Broadway play by William Goldman

2016 Broadway production starring Laurie Metcalf & Bruce Willis