Stark - The Dark Half
Stark - The Dark Half (in the English original: The Dark Half ) is the title of a horror novel by the writer Stephen King . It forms the third novel in the so-called Castle Rock cycle . The novel was first published in 1989 by Viking-Verlag, the German translation by Christel Wiemken was published by Hoffmann & Campe in the same year.
content
The writer Thaddeus Beaumont lives with his wife Liz and his twins in Ludlow, and they both maintain a summer house on the shores of Castle Lake in Castle Rock. As a writer, Thad Beaumont has seen little success, at least in terms of his own name. Under the pseudonym George Stark , he writes bloodthirsty thrillers that are selling very successfully.
After the young student Frederick Clawson had come behind the secret that Thad Beaumont and George Stark are the same person, decides Thad, his Dark Half (English Dark Half ) to bury, and revealed in People Magazine his secret. In a photo series with a paper mache gravestone, Beaumont lets Stark die symbolically, the stone itself bears the inscription: Not a pleasant contemporary . The publication in People leads to the fact that the other novels of the writer Thaddeus Beaumont also become bestsellers.
A little later, several people who were involved in the symbolic funeral of George Stark are killed during a series of murders. Sheriff Alan Pangborn, who recently took office in Castle Rock County, even briefly suspects Thad of the murder of local homer Gamache. Finally, the incarnate George Stark kidnaps Liz and the children and escapes with them to Castle Rock, the summer house of the Beaumonts. Simultaneously with George Stark, sparrows kept appearing - more and more - at Thad's residence in Ludlow.
A little later, the sheriff arrives at the Beaumont family's summer home. Although he is extremely careful in his research, Stark is able to overwhelm and disarm him. Thad arrives at the summer house that evening. Sparrows block his way, but when he tries to drive over them, the sparrows open an alley to let the wagon to the summer house. In the house, Thad makes the momentous decision to introduce George Stark to the "art of writing". Thad knows that he can control the sparrows and uses them as the last weapon against George Stark, who is killed by the birds and eaten completely. Alan Pangborn, Liz, the children and Thaddeus survived largely unharmed. However, the family's summer home has been almost completely destroyed by the birds.
filming
The book was made into a film in 1990 by director George A. Romero , but did not find its way into cinemas until 1993. Timothy Hutton took on the role of Thaddeus Beaumont / George Stark . Michael Rooker could be seen as Alan Pangborn.
Oddities
- In the third novel of the Castle Rock cycle, Stephen King addressed the discovery of his own pseudonym Richard Bachman (see the article on the writer Stephen King ) and again colored the novel strongly autobiographical. At the time of the discovery, many of Stephen King's works had already been published millions of times, which is why the Richard Bachman books entered the bestseller lists after they became known. The same goes for the writer Thaddeus Beamont in the novel Stark - The Dark Half , where the pseudonym and the writer, however, have switched roles.
- The first American edition of the novel was 1.5 million copies.
- The story of how the novel came about is a jumble of pseudonyms. In 1985, when Bachman's identity leaked, Bachman had almost completed a book called Machine's Way . King wanted to have some fun with this title: How about publishing it as a novel by George Stark, a pseudonym of Bachman? A pseudonym of a pseudonym to completely confuse the public? But Bachman was blown, Machine's Way was given up. But King kept the name George Stark and briefly made him the pseudonym of Thad Beaumont. One of his Stark books is called Machine's Way .
Links to other works
- The book is reminiscent of Sheriff Bannerman, Alan Pangborn's predecessor. He played a role in the novel The Corpse (from Spring, Summer, Autumn and Death ), chased a woman killer in Dead Zone and was killed in Cujo .
- Only in time lapse (at night ) do we learn that Alan Pangborn's family is going to die in a car accident.
- The fate of Thad Beaumont remains open in this book; but in a small town we have to learn that he starts drinking again and his wife is leaving him; Finally, in Sara , Mike Noonan reports on his suicide. Did George Stark come back?
- The Beaumonts live in Ludlow, which is also where the cuddly toy cemetery is located.
- In the book It , Beverly Marsh, one of the main characters, also repeatedly has visions of huge flocks of birds.
literature
- Stephen King: Stark - The Dark Half . Ullstein, ISBN 3-548-25748-8 .