Molestation: Father & Son ...Where was it?
Dan Slabaugh
My wife recently mentioned she stopped reading Stephen King
books/stories because of a plot line from some unknown SK novel or short
story that involved a father molesting his 2 sons. She recalls even a
reference of the father putting lard on his penis and that eventually
one of the sons shot the father as part of a "hunting accident". Does
anyone know from which SK book/story this is from? Thanks!
Peter Straub
It seems to me that this could be a garbled reference to the "Becka
Paulson" section of Needful Things. The interesting bit about the lard
rings no bells, but I do remember being struck by the psychological
accuracy of the passage in which the abused daughter "accidentally"
plugs her reprehensible old man while out they are out hunting. What
particularly struck me was the way in which the passage demonstrated
King's instinctive, imaginative grasp of the workings of the
unconscious despite his frequent denials that any such thing exists.
Peter
Kim Murrell
In article <340B7A52...@earthlink.com>, slab...@earthlink.com wrote:
>My wife recently mentioned she stopped reading Stephen King
>books/stories because of a plot line from some unknown SK novel or short
>story that involved a father molesting his 2 sons. She recalls even a
>reference of the father putting lard on his penis and that eventually
>one of the sons shot the father as part of a "hunting accident". Does
>anyone know from which SK book/story this is from? Thanks!
Hmmm...I seem to remember reading something along those lines in The
Tommyknockers.
Kim
--
"You only have to read the lines.
They're scribbly black and everything shines." -Barrett
http://www.warped.com/~kimm
Peter Straub
Dani K. wrote:
An exremely interesting post, almost all of which I am going to snip,
quoting the exact paragraph from The Tommyknockers concerning the boy,
the buggery, and the so-called "hunting accident." I should really check
to make sure I'm right before I start shooting off my mouth - I did
remember that the incident took place in the Becka Paulson chapter, and
remembered reading it in Rolling Stone before rereading it in the
finished book, but thought I recalled that the book was Needful Things.
Ah, me. At least the passage Dani quotes really does demonstrate what I
was talking about, a firm grasp of the workings of the unconscious.
Dani then goes on to say:
>
> The first time that I remember King doing this is in 'Salem's
> Lot. It's my all-time favorite prose by King, which is odd
> because 'Salem's Lot is not my favorite story by SK by a long
> shot. But ya'll go check it out and read it as a separate
> entity from the novel as a whole. Tell me what you think of
> it. In my opinion, this piece of prose is poetry in and of
> itself. It is absolutely inspired writing. It's Chapter 10,
> The Lot III, subchapter 1. It begins, "The town knew about
> darkness" and ends, "And darkness was enough."
I'm with her - inspired writing, beautiful writing, writing with every
last cadence nailed firmly into place.
Peter, blushing
Sodapop
(I may be out of my league here, but I'm desperate, as my battle senses
have just taken a crippling blow, with today's arrival of W&G)
Mr. Straub,
As you may or may not know, we have a Virtual War of farcical
proportions going on here at absk, DT Lovers vs. DT Haters. Or more
commonly known as Sgt. Pop's DT Platoon vs. the Marti's.
So forgive me if I'm wasting your time, with this rigmarole, but are you
a Dark Tower series fan?
If you are, my DT Platoon could use a man of your merit and stature.
I have been advised by my superiors to offer you the *highest* ranking
position in our militia, of *General*.
In return for your services, you will receive a Virtual Mansion any
where in the world, a full staff of servers, including a chauffeur (to
drive your virtual limo), maid, butler, etc. Plus a full militia of
soldiers at your disposal.
With your help we could put an *end* to these Marti's degenerate
shenanigan's, posthaste.
Please cogitate my offer and respond at your leisure.
Thank you for your time.
Respectfully,
-Sgt. S. Pop
Special Forces
DT Platoon
************************
- I may have completely lost control of all senses, as I slip into my
*finest* military issue, flame-retardent suit...
Dani K.
Mkrivit wondered....
>My wife recently mentioned she stopped reading Stephen King
>books/stories because of a plot line from some unknown SK
>novel or short story that involved a father molesting his 2
>sons. She recalls even a reference of the father putting lard
>on his penis and that eventually one of the sons shot the
>father as part of a "hunting accident". Does anyone know from
>which SK book/story this is from?
It's not exactly a plotline. It's a single paragraph, one
of those 'human interest' sidestories that King puts in
his main stories. Your wife's memory is very accurate.
Tommyknockers: Book II (Tales of Haven) Chapter 2 ('Becka
Paulson) Subchapter 3, Paragraph 7.
Okay, I'm going to quote the passage, but I'm going to
spoiler it. And I'll warn anybody who hasn't read everything
King has written; this is a very graphic and very hurtful
paragraph.
-----------------------------------------------------------
: In 1973, Moss Harlingen, one of Joe's poker buddies,
: had had murdered his father. They had been hunting
: deer up in Greenville and it had supposedly been
: one of those tragic accidents, but the shooting of
: Abel Harlingen had been no accident. Moss simply
: laid up behind a fallen tree with his rifle and
: waited until his father splashed across a small
: stream about fifty yards down the hill from where
: Moss was. Moss potted his father as easily as a
: clay duck in a shooting gallery. He *thought* he
: had killed his father for money. Moss's business,
: Big Ditch Construction, had two notes falling due
: with two different banks within six weeks time, and
: neither would extend because of the other. Moss
: went to Abel, but his dad refused to help,
: although he could afford to. So Moss shot his
: father and inherited a pot of money after the
: county coroner handed down a verdict of death by
: misadventure. The notes were paid and Moss
: Harlingen really believed (except perhaps in his
: deepest dreams) that he had committed murder for
: gain. The *real* motive had been something else.
: Far in the past, when Moss was ten and his brother
: Emory seven, Abel's wife went south to Rhode Island
: for one whole winter. Her brother died suddenly,
: and his wife needed help getting on her feet.
: While their mother was gone, there were several
: incidents of buggery at the Harlingen place. The
: buggery stopped when the boys' mother came back,
: and the incidents were never repeated. Moss had
: forgotten all about them. He never remembered
: lying awake in the doorway for the shadow of his
: father. He had absolutely no recollection of lying
: with his mouth pressed against his forearm, salty
: tears of shame and rage squeezing out of his hot
: eyes and coursing down his cold face to his mouth
: as Abel Harlingen slathered lard onto his cock and
: slid it up his son's back door with a grunt and a
: sigh. It had all made so little impression on Moss
: that he could not remember biting his arm until it
: bled to keep from crying out, and he certainly
: could not remember Emory's breathless bird-cries
: from the next bed--"Please, Daddy, no, Daddy,
: please not me tonight, please, Daddy." Children,
: of course, forget very easily. But *some* memory
: might have lingered, because when Moss Harlingen
: actually pulled the trigger on the buggering son of
: a whore, as the echoes first rolled away and then
: rolled back, finally disappearing into the great
: forested silence of the up-Maine wilderness, Moss
: whispered: "Not you, Em, not tonight."
-----------------------------------------------------------
And as an aside, I want to say, this is the only mention of
this particular sidestory in the whole of Tommyknockers. But
it fits right into the story as a whole seamlessly. This is
one of the things that King does that just absolutely awes me.
This single paragraph is a short story within the short story
of 'Becka Paulson, within a novella about the town and the
townspeople, within the novel the Tommyknockers. That's
absolutely amazing stuff.
The first time that I remember King doing this is in 'Salem's
Lot. It's my all-time favorite prose by King, which is odd
because 'Salem's Lot is not my favorite story by SK by a long
shot. But ya'll go check it out and read it as a separate
entity from the novel as a whole. Tell me what you think of
it. In my opinion, this piece of prose is poetry in and of
itself. It is absolutely inspired writing. It's Chapter 10,
The Lot III, subchapter 1. It begins, "The town knew about
darkness" and ends, "And darkness was enough."
Dani K.
--
To email me, delete .graveyard.shift
Kim Murrell
In article <5ugkkl$bgh$1...@nntp2.ba.best.com>, for...@too.much.email wrote:
<snip>
That passage made me cry when I read it the first time and I came close to
tears again reading it here.
>And as an aside, I want to say, this is the only mention of
>this particular sidestory in the whole of Tommyknockers. But
>it fits right into the story as a whole seamlessly. This is
>one of the things that King does that just absolutely awes me.
>This single paragraph is a short story within the short story
>of 'Becka Paulson, within a novella about the town and the
>townspeople, within the novel the Tommyknockers. That's
>absolutely amazing stuff.
I agree and this is what I love most about King. I know some people think
he's often too wordy...that his books could be drastically cut and the story
would survive. But that would mean cutting the tangents and little tidbits
like this that are, IMO, King at his best.
>itself. It is absolutely inspired writing. It's Chapter 10,
>The Lot III, subchapter 1. It begins, "The town knew about
>darkness" and ends, "And darkness was enough."
I'd forgotten about that. I loved that. I also loved the chapters in The
Stand about the spread of Capt. Trips across the country and what happened to
those who were immune, but couldn't survive in the "new world."
Lovely stuff, that.
Kim
--
“Can’t keep my eyes from the circling sky
tongue-tied and twisted, just an earthbound misfit, I.” -Gilmour
http://www.warped.com/~kimm
Peter Straub
In desperation, Sodapop wrote:
and here I snip the couple of pargraphs which preceded this delightful
bribe:
> I have been advised by my superiors to offer you the *highest* ranking
> position in our militia, of *General*.
> In return for your services, you will receive a Virtual Mansion any
> where in the world, a full staff of servers, including a chauffeur (to
> drive your virtual limo), maid, butler, etc. Plus a full militia of
> soldiers at your disposal.
Really. Please. Apparently you don't understand that I already have all
that stuff. The Mansion, known throughout the island of Manhattan as
Castle Cadaver, Maison Macabre or, as I prefer, The Manor, is
overflowing with annoyingly condescending butlers, upstairs and
downstairs maids, flunkys poised to answer my every wish, and all those
uniformed bodyguards might as well be soldiers, Jeez, I used to get a
sort of kick out those guys, but after a while it gets a little tiresome
to have twenty men jolt to attention and bellow "Yo!" every time you
wander into a room in search of the latest copy of CEMETERY DANCE
magazine. I think it's best for me to stay out of this battle.
Peter
EGCruz
> some unknown SK novel or short
>story that involved a father molesting his 2 sons. She recalls even a
>reference of the father putting lard on his penis and that eventually
>one of the sons shot the father as part of a "hunting accident". Does
>anyone know from which SK book/story this is from? Thanks!
>
>
I think it's The Tommyknockers; at any rate, that's the title that comes
to mind. The son, grown now, responsible for the "hunting accident"
whispers, after shooting his father dead, "Not you, Eb. Not tonite." Man,
which story IS that? Now you got me thinking; I hate it when that happens.
Wakanyeja Makah
On Tue, 02 Sep 1997 22:56:04 -0400, Peter Straub
<pst...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>Really. Please. Apparently you don't understand that I already have all
>that stuff. The Mansion, known throughout the island of Manhattan as
>Castle Cadaver, Maison Macabre or, as I prefer, The Manor, is
>overflowing with annoyingly condescending butlers, upstairs and
>downstairs maids, flunkys poised to answer my every wish, and all those
>uniformed bodyguards might as well be soldiers, Jeez, I used to get a
>sort of kick out those guys, but after a while it gets a little tiresome
>to have twenty men jolt to attention and bellow "Yo!" every time you
>wander into a room in search of the latest copy of CEMETERY DANCE
>magazine. I think it's best for me to stay out of this battle.
>Peter
Peter,
Understanding how absolutely dull and boring it must be to
have droves of virtual servants at your beck and call the Marti tribe
is prepared to offer you bare bones accomodations. Yep, that's right-
a well-used fatigue green army pup-tent out on the side yard (watch
out for the cow by-products) Unfortunately Kevin-Marti has exhausted
our supply of Cowboy's Cheerleaders, but we do have Thelma down at the
post office (and the light in that pup-tent is dim). Thelma has been
known to break out "the whip" on occasion. That's right, there will
be none of that virtual coddling the successful novelist if you join
the Marti-side...
Come out and play!
W. Makah-Marti
Wakanyeja Makah
On Tue, 02 Sep 1997 14:25:29 -0400, Peter Straub
<pst...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>I'm with her - inspired writing, beautiful writing, writing with every
>last cadence nailed firmly into place.
>
>Peter, blushing
Since you obviously follow this newsgroup, I have one
question.
Are you a DT supporter or a Marti ?
W. Makah-Marti
Jared Head
Vegard (veg...@kjemi.uio.no) wrote:
: Funny you should pick _Dracula_ as an example, 'cos IMHO that book is at
: least as wordy as any book King has written. If it had been cut down 300
: pages or so, I might have liked it. I liked the first 50 pages or so, and
: there were odd bits here and there with a wonderful frisson of horror,
: but as a whole I thought it was terribly overlong. If *that* book is
: considered a classic, I see no reason why some of King's books shouldn't
: become "classics".
Part of the reason it's a classic has got to be that it's one of the first
(yeah, I know not *the* first) vampire novels. I'm sure if it came out
today it would not be quite as popular.
Jared
--
Jared Head at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Bristol
"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human
history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila."
Mitch Ratliffe
Vegard
In article <EG195...@fsa.bris.ac.uk>, bi...@zeus.bris.ac.uk (Jared Head)
writes:
>Part of the reason it's classic has got to be that it's one of the first
>(yeah, I know not *the* first) vampire novels. I'm sure if it came out
>today it would not be quite as popular.
Nah, I don't think that's it. It's the movies that's kept it alive. In
fact, from what I've heard, the novel received mixed reviews when it was
released and didn't really sell very well.
V.