Thursday, December 19, 2013
Seasons
Do you think the seasonal organization of the four novellas into a single volume made sense? I can't think of why this was done, exactly, except for marketing purposes maybe? I didn't see the stories as related in any way, except "The Body" and "Shawshank" had a tiny overlap with the Maine setting and with the minor aside in "The Body" to the Shawshank crime.
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Yeah, it didn't mean much to me. Did you read King's afterword? He talks about how the novella length is awkward and how he had to sell the concept to his publisher. That, to me, is the point of the "seasons": to tie the four together thematically in some way so they could be sold together. I can't even remember which story was supposed to be which season.
Per Wikipedia (the lazy gal's guide to research), the stories were subtitled — Shawshank was "Hope Springs Eternal," Apt Pupil "Summer of Corruption," The Body "Fall from Innocence," Breathing Method "A Winter's Tale." Only the last really works for me as a seasonal concept.
The club in "The Breathing Method" really fascinated me. I guess like those old clubs the Brits used to have but with some overlying sense of menace. The club is featured in another story from "Skeleton Crew," which is my favorite of his short story collections.
Thanks, cl. I think what confused me was "The Body" feels like summer to me, what with all the sweating.
Since you brought up the club in "The Breathing Method" -- It was fascinating and creepy, but it bugged me, too. There was no payoff. What was going on there? I kept waiting for some kind of explanation that never came. In the end the creepy club just felt to me like window dressing for the doctor story.
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