Danse Macabre (book)

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Danse Macabre

Front Cover
Author Stephen King
Language English
Genre(s) horror fiction
Publisher Everest House, Berkley Trade
Publication date 1981
September 4, 2001 (Reprint)
Media type Paperback
Pages 400
ISBN ISBN 978-0-42-518160-7

Danse Macabre is a nonfiction book by Stephen King on horror fiction and United States pop culture, published in 1981.

Danse Macabre examines the various influences on King's own writing, and important genre texts of the 20th century. Focusing on horror and suspense films, comic books, old time radio, television and fiction from a fan's perspective, King peppers his book with informal academic insight, discussing archetypes, important authors, common narrative devices, "the psychology of terror", and his key theory of "Dionysian horror."

In a footnote to the first edition, King credits Bill Thompson, the editor of his first five published novels, and later editor at Doubleday, as being the inspiration for its creation.

"...Bill called me and said, 'Why don't you do a book about the entire horror phenomenon as you see it?' Books, movies, radio, TV, the whole thing. We'll do it together, if you want.'
The concept intrigued and frightened me at the same time."

Thompson ultimately convinced King that if he wrote such a genre survey, he would no longer have to answer tedious, repetitive interview questions on the topic. King agreed to write his non-fiction appraisal of the horror genre, mostly limiting the scope of Danse Macabre from the 1950s to the 1980s (roughly the era covering King's own life), and using King's college teaching notes as the backbone of the text.

v • d • e
Stephen King bibliography
Novels Carrie (1974) • ’Salem's Lot (1975) • The Shining (1977) • The Stand (1978) • The Dead Zone (1979) • Firestarter (1980) • Cujo (1981) • Christine (1983) • Pet Sematary (1983) • Cycle of the Werewolf (1983) • The Talisman (1984; with Peter Straub) • It (1986) • The Eyes of the Dragon (1987) • Misery (1987) • The Tommyknockers (1987) • The Dark Half (1989) • Needful Things (1991) • Gerald's Game (1992) • Dolores Claiborne (1993) • Insomnia (1994) • Rose Madder (1995) • The Green Mile (1996) • Desperation (1996) • Bag of Bones (1998) • The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) • Dreamcatcher (2001) • Black House (2001; with Peter Straub) • From a Buick 8 (2002) • The Colorado Kid (2005) • Cell (2006) • Lisey's Story (2006) • Duma Key (2008)
The Dark Tower
series		 I: The Gunslinger (1982) • II: The Drawing of the Three (1987) • III: The Waste Lands (1991) • IV: Wizard and Glass (1997) • V: Wolves of the Calla (2003) • VI: Song of Susannah (2004) • VII: The Dark Tower (2004)
The Bachman Books Rage (1977) • The Long Walk (1979) • Roadwork (1981) • The Running Man (1982) • Thinner (1984) • The Regulators (1996) • Blaze (2007)
Short fiction
collections		 Night Shift (1978) • Different Seasons (1982) • Skeleton Crew (1985) • Four Past Midnight (1990) • Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) • Hearts in Atlantis (1999) • Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales (2002)
Non-fiction Danse Macabre (1981) • Nightmares in the Sky (1988) • On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000) • Secret Windows (2000) • Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season (2005; with Stewart O'Nan)
e-books Riding the Bullet (1999) • The Plant (2000; unfinished)
Screenplays Creepshow (1982) • Cat's Eye (1985) • Silver Bullet (1985) • Maximum Overdrive (1986; also director) • Pet Sematary (1989) • Sleepwalkers (1992) • The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer (2003)
Teleplays Sorry, Right Number (1988) • Golden Years (1991) • The Stand (1994) • The Shining (1997) • Storm of the Century (1999) • Rose Red (2002) • Desperation (2006)
Stage play Ghost Brothers of Darkland County (2007; with John Mellencamp)
Miscellaneous Kingdom Hospital (2004) • The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born‎ (2007)
Related articles Richard Bachman • Tabitha King • Joe Hill • Owen King • Bryan Smith • Peter Straub • Rock Bottom Remainders • Dollar Baby • Media based on Stephen King works • Castle Rock, Maine • Derry, Maine
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