In a candid and wide-ranging article in the Washington Post on Monday, Stephen King told a reporter that in 100 years, people might remember who Pennywise the clown is — but they probably won’t remember the name of the guy who created him.
King told the Post that very few popular novelists have a life after death, aside from a few notable exceptions such as Agatha Christie.
“I think that a couple of the horror novels might last. They might be read 50 or a hundred years from now, ‘The Shining’ and ‘Salem’s Lot’ and ‘It,’” King said, of his own novels. “If you ask people, ‘What vampire do you know?,’ they’d say, ‘Dracula.’ ‘Well, who invented Dracula?’ ‘I don’t [expletive] know.’ So, 50 or a hundred years from now, people will say: ‘Oh, Pennywise, the clown. Yeah, sure.’ ‘Who is Stephen King?’ They won’t know.”
King showed the Post reporter through the legendary home on West Broadway in Bangor that he shared with his wife, writer Tabitha, for nearly four decades. Today, it houses King’s charitable foundation and his archive, with plans to eventually host a writer’s retreat. The Kings live in western Maine during the warmer months and in Florida in the winter.
Specifically, King showed off his library, and noted several books that he loved or were an influence on him in his writing — from classic horror and science fiction from the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, to crime novels, to historical epics.
The interview for the story took place prior to the mass shooting of 18 people in Lewiston last week. In the days after the shooting, King noted that he grew up in the area, went to high school in Lisbon and lives less than 50 miles away in the town of Lovell. He has been outspoken about his support for gun control measures, including in a guest essay in the New York Times opinion section on Friday.
Here are the books the article highlighted as being some of King’s favorites.
“‘A Thousand Years a Minute,’ by Carl H. Claudy
“Pleasant Dreams: Nightmares” by Robert Bloch
“I am Legend” by Richard Matheson
“Pirates of Venus” and “At the Earth’s Core” by Edgar Rice Burroughs
“The Complete Tales from the Crypt”
“Selected Letters” by H.P. Lovecraft
“Outer Dark” and “The Passenger” by Cormac McCarthy
“They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” by Horace McCoy
“Look Homeward, Angel” by Thomas Wolfe
“Goldilocks” by Ed McBain
“The Forsyte Saga” by John Galsworthy
“A Dance to the Music of Time” by Anthony Powell
“Carrion Comfort” by Dan Simmons
