most dictionaries and textbooks. As Mike is drawn into Matties custody battle, he is also exposed to the ghosts that haunt the community. September 21, 1947) may be known as a horror writer, but he calls himself a "brand name," describing his style as "the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and a large fries from McDonald's." Why do we do this? ISBN: 9781444723250. King's writing style is also marked by his use of similes and metaphors. Stephen Kings first published novel, Carrie, is a parable of adolescence. , Its best explained with an example from King:, Kings other piece of verb usage advice is perhaps his most passionately held opinion: the adverb is not your friend., But what is an adverb? An editor And yet, it is not even King himself who engages it here, but his son in an interview about his father about his fathers writing: Ive always thought that my dads stories sold bravery, that they essentially were making an argument that, yeah, things might get really bad. King effectively uses these devices to convey his theme of persevering through adversity to become a greater writer and person. Ideally though, King believes you must, as always, know the rules before you break them. That is, he offers examples of bad writing as a means of illuminating how to follow through on his positive advice on good writing. Jackhammering your idea out of the soil perfectly is probably impossible as you will suffer a few inevitable breaks and losses. They don't have to makes speeches. Louiss wizardry is reflected in the narrative perspective and structure, which flashes back in part 2 from the funeral to Louiss fantasy of a heroically long, flying tackle that snatches Gage from deaths wheels. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that's all., It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Stephen King 's "Survivor Type" contains a couple different literary devices and narrative elements. Mike and Kyra share a special psychic connection that allows them to share dreams and even to have the same ghosts haunting their homesghosts who communicate by rearranging magnetic letters on each of their refrigerator doors. "Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In Pet Sematary, King unearthed the buried child, which is the novels monster. Stephen King, in his book On Writing uses no less that half a dozen major writing metaphors from fixing a screen door to driving in the fog at night to unearthing the fossilized remains of a dinosaurthat will no doubt come to life and eat children. Though they were inseparable as children, their adult lives have diverged: Jeo is a dedicated medical student, married a year; Mikal has been a vagabond since he was fifteen, in love with a woman he can't have. He often uses these literary devices to paint a picture in the reader's mind and to create a more immersive experience. Review & Rating: 9.8/10. This is part of Stephen King's writing process. Louis Creed, a university doctor, moves with his wife, Rachel, and their two children (five-year-old Ellie and two-year-old Gage) to Maine to work at Kings alma mater; a neighbor takes the family on an outing to a pet cemetery created by the neighborhood children, their confrontation with mortality. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Dennis narrates the story in order to file it away, all the while perceiving himself and his peers in terms of icons from the late 1950s. Stephen King: Writing Process and Revision When you write your first draft, King suggests that you close your door. Financially invulnerable, King became almost playful with publishing gambits: The Green Mile was a serial, six slim paperbacks, in emulation of Charles Dickens and as a self-set challenge; Richard Bachman was revived when The Regulators was published in 1996. With a passive verb, something is being done to the subject of the sentence. Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. The last half is psychological suspense and metafiction in biological metaphor: the struggle of the decently introspective Beaumont against the rawly instinctual Stark for control of both word and flesh, with the novel taking shape on the page as the true author reclaims the third eye, Kings term for both childs and artists inward vision. While King acknowledges its importance, he is also aware of the difficulty that is presents so many people., King advises that most of what you need youll have, you just need to top it up here and there, or find a work around. The pseudonym has materialized, risen from its fictional grave literally to take Thads wife and children (twins, of course) hostage. By midyear, a widely reported accident jeopardized the survival of both. The result is both a no holds barred biography of his journey to success and a step by step how to guide for aspiring writers. Avoiding Distractions 6. Mears has returned to the town of his childhood to revive an image of the Marsten House lurking in his mythical minds eye. She never voiced a single doubt, giving him constant support through his journey., Not only does letting in your loved ones provide emotional support, it can be tangible. I hope this summary of Stephen King's On Writing was helpful to you! Lets use another example to demonstrate why:, You may read that and think, yes, it does need to be there in certain circumstances. 'While it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while it is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible, with lots of hard work, dedication, and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one'. Read more. Archetypal themes also strengthen the two books: Female power must overcome male dominance, as the moon eclipses the sun; and each woman must find her own identity and strength out of travail, as the darkness gives way to light again. The book ends in a scene from some malign fairy tale as that child and alter ego is borne away by flocks of sparrows to make a last appearance as a black hole in the fabric of the sky. Bag of Bones, which King calls a haunted love story, opens with narrator Mike Noonan recounting the death of his wife, Jo, who collapses outside the Rite Aid pharmacy from a brain aneurysm. The metaphors will be introduced by a moment and then will be shown over and over. King writes that each is like a 'fossil in the ground', when you dig it up, you don't know if it's going to be a 'seashell' or a huge 'Tyrannosaurus Rex'. This of course stands true for any form of writing.. Because Mike is unable to father children, he begins to question whether Jo was having an affair. Character and voice have always been essential to Kings books, as Debbie Notkin, Harlan Ellison, and others have pointed out. "What Writing Is" appears in bolded capitalized font at the top of the page. Editing is a process of addition by . Chapter 1. The baby boomers, King explains, were obsessive about childhood. His answer is pessimistic, turning on the abdication of Father Callahan, whose strength is undermined by secret alcoholism and a superficial adherence to form. It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. ), as well as Misery and Pet SemataryKing gluts the first half of the book with Stark/Machines gruesome rampages. When I tried Stephen King's method, I drafted a novel in 4 months, instead of my previous 1-3 years. In contrast to Kings sprawling It or encyclopedic The Stand, these books, like Misery, tightly focus on one setting, a shorter period of time, and a small casthere Miserys duet is replaced by intense monologues. King's advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from . The grimmer, truer text-within-the-text is Mary Wollstonecraft Shelleys Frankenstein (1818). Once buzzed in, a visitor enters a sort of Stephen King nirvana - rooms decorated with fan-created artwork populated with characters from his novels, a Stephen King Simpsons action figure,. Kings fictions begin with premises accepted by middle Americans of the television generation, opening in suburban or small-town AmericaDerry, Maine, or Libertyville, Pennsylvaniaand have the familiarity of the house next door and the 7-Eleven store. Literary Devices Rhetorical Question: A rhetorical question is asked in order to make the. . As for King the writer, It was one important rite in what would be a lengthy passage. The first words of text below itcompleting the declarative assertion aboveis the metaphor spelled out: The rest of the section goes on to offer an explanation of this explicitly stated theory of writing. Some common and memorable metaphors include "life is a highway," "she's boiling mad," "he's a blockhead," "you ain't nothin' but a hound dog" and "The U.S. is a melting pot." Metaphors from Literature One of the most well-known metaphors from literature is Shakespeare's line "All the world's a stage" from As You Like It . If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway., Writing is not life, but I think that sometimes it can be a way back to life., If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. As so often the case with creative pursuits, King supports the widely acknowledged mantra that for great artists, 'imitation precedes creation. Other examples of common metaphors are "night owl", "cold feet", "beat a dead horse", "early bird", "couch potato", "eyes were fireflies", "apple of my eye", "heart of stone", "heart of a lion", "roller coaster of emotions", and "heart of gold.". The road to hell is paved with adverbs., The scariest moment is always just before you start., you can, you should, and if youre brave enough to start, you will., Description begins in the writers imagination, but should finish in the readers., Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. thissection. No one else will! The question on every new writer's lips is often how do I get an agent? King writes that more often than not the people asking the question are annoyed, tired and frustrated with what they perceive to be a nepotistic system. Ideally one thousand words a day, six days a week., Whether you want to do this at home, at work, or as Stephen did, on his lunch break, it doesnt matter, you just need to get it done.. Originally published in 2000 by Charles Scribner's Sons, it was King's first book after he was involved in a car accident a year earlier. To Arnies late 1970s-style imagination, the Plymouth Fury, in 1958 a mid-priced family car, is an American Dream. Christine is the car as a projection of the cultural self, Anima for the modern American Adam. To describe something that is unknown by the use of things that are known. On Writing is not just a book about words and style, it is about magic.. Different Seasons. One major . Mike, related to one of the people who murdered Sarahs child, has been drawn into this circle of retribution from the beginning, and the death of his unborn daughter, Kia, was not the accident it seemed to be. Building on the notion that motivation is a myth, King believes that you must make sure the muse knows where you are going to be each day. Turner. Although some might pick up this rare exercise in non-fiction from King hoping its true subject is the author of their favorite novels expounding on writing them, the book is actually very light on such behind-the-scenes stuff. In these novels, King reaches beyond childhood and adolescence as themes; child abuse is examined, but only from an adult point of view. After Lances death from a freak accident, Max returned to Matties life in an attempt to get acquainted with his granddaughter, Kyra. In this modernization of Frankenstein, King demythologizes death and attacks the aspirations toward immortality that typify contemporary American attitudes. Paragraphs form on their own., Each paragraph is a beat and when composing its best not to think too much about where paragraphs begin and end; the trick is to let nature take its course., Its all about flow. And in his months of recovery, the link between writing and living became more crucial than ever. Invented for business reasons, Bachman soon grew into an identity complete with a biography and photographs (he was a chicken farmer with a cancer-ravaged face), dedications, a narrative voice (of unrelenting pessimism), and if not a genre, a naturalistic mode in which sociopolitical speculation combined or alternated with psychological suspense. With writing you can build worlds, mythical creatures, anything you can imagine. Both cursed and empowered with righteous fury, she becomes at once victim and monster, witch and White Angel of Destruction. Kings paranormal horrors have similar cathartic and educative functions for adults; they externalize the traumas of life, especially those of adolescence. To simply it, they usually end in -ly., Like passive verbs, King believes adverbs were also created with weak writers in mind. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot if difference. Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. Stephen King uses literary elements and devices to help bring narrative and meaning to his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. By this he means that you get a group of characters in some sort of predicament that would be interesting to work itself out. Starks purely instinctual genius finds its most vital expression in his protagonist, the ruthless killer Alexis Machine. He told much the same story as before but assumed the mantle of adulthood. And vice versa. Twenty-seven years after its original reign of terror, It resumes its seige, whereupon the protagonists, now professionally successful and, significantly, childless yuppies, must return to Derry to confront as adults their childhood fears. In his own words, here is Stephen King's greatest writing advice: On Getting Started 1. Paul is a writer, thus he thinks like a writer and it's part of his character to make connections, analyze, symbolize. September 21, 1947) may be known as a horror writer, but he calls himself a brand name, describing his style as the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and a large fries from McDonalds. His fast-food version of the plain style may smell of commercialism, but that may make him the contemporary American storyteller without peer. Though she knew from the rejection slips on the wall that Stephen wanted to be a writer, as any parent of her time would, Kings Mother suggested he qualify as a teacher for something to fall back on., King dutifully did so and qualified though initially he couldnt even use the degree. In the first example, grammar is being compared to a pole that a writer grabs hold of. In On Writing on pages 129 through 131, King shares the approach that every new writer should acquire in order to create magic. Transferred into an immoderate love for his son, it is exposed as the narcissistic embodiment of a patriarchal lust for immortality through descendants, expressed first in an agony of sorrow and Rage, then ghoulishly, as he disinters his sons corpse and makes the estranging discovery that it is like looking at a badly made doll. Later, reanimated, Gage appears to have been terribly hurt and then put back together again by crude, uncaring hands. Performing his task, Louis feels dehumanized, like a subhuman character in some cheap comic-book.. In other more simple to use tips, King advocates the old screenwriting adage of never tell us a thing if you can show us instead and advises listening to normal peoples conversations as a way to learn the craft of dialogue., Usually a confusing subject for beginner writers to get their head around, King makes symbolism and themeeasier by stating that he never thinks about it in the beginning., Rather than spending your time worrying about what the theme is, or whether there even is one, better to spend your time writing a good story. Answer: Probably The Green Mile. One, he is sure, is Jo, and one, he determines, is Sarah Tidwell. The power that words carry and the commitment that goes into getting them onto the page. Initially delighted by the excellent story her young son had written, her pride was quickly quashed when she found out that in fact he had copied most of it out of a funny book. With an active verb, the subject of the sentence is doing something. Misery is perhaps the most thematically satisfying of King's novels, both rich and unified, as interwoven issues are explored by direct action and by a wealth of metaphorical imagery. Billed ironically on the dust jacket as a love letter to his fans, the novel is a witty satire on what King has called Americas cannibalistic cult of celebrity: [Y]ou set the guy up, and then you eat him. The monstrous Reader, however, is also the writers muse, creation, and alter ego, as Sheldon discovers when he concludes that Misery Returnsnot his serious novel Fast Carswas his masterpiece. Or indeed, criticise it., Therefore, with this knowledge in hand, he advises beginners to write at least two drafts. When Mikes literary agent tells him of all the other best-selling novelists who have novels coming out in the fall of 1998, the most notable name missing from the list is that of Stephen King himself. To help Mattie fight off Maxs army of high-priced lawyers, Mike uses his own considerable resources to retain a lawyer for Mattie named John Storrow, a young New Yorker unafraid to take on someone of Max Devores social stature. Did he cry over it? or script) and open it to a random page, you can easily see whether its going to be a difficult read or not., Easy books = short paragraphs. Geralds Game is the story of Jessie Burlingame, a young wife who submits to her husbands desire for bondage in a deserted cabin, only to have him die when she unexpectedly struggles. Racism, not a theme usually associated with northern writers, has been successfully transplanted by King via the traveling Sarah Tidwell. Stephen King's On Writing really contains two books: a fondly sardonic autobiography and a tough-love . Thats how you do the work.. The Best Advice He Ever Got 5. William Blattys The Exorcist (1971), which was adapted into a powerful and controversial film, had touched on similar social fears during the 1960s and 1970s with its subtext of the generation gap and the death of God. Although Carries destructive power, like that of Regan in The Exorcist, is linked with monstrous adolescent sexuality, the similarity between the two novels ends there. King has an actual toolbox in mind to anchor this metaphor, a huge, heavy, custom-built toolbox that belonged to his grandfather, Fazza: "It had three levels, the top two removable, all three containing little drawers as cunning as Chinese boxes." Your common tools should go on top, King tells us, and these include vocabulary and grammar. Thats 180,000 words over a three-month span, a goodish length for a book something in which the reader can get happily lost, if the tale is done well and stays fresh., If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered.. It is with this that you can infer how things go down. Literally, closing your door helps you focus and block out the outside world. The larger philosophical issue is Louiss rational, bioethical creed; he believes in saving the only life he knows, the material. Pet Sematary is about the real cemetery, he told Winter. The term metaphor meant in Greek "carry something across" or "transfer," which suggests many of the more elaborate definitions below: Metaphor Table. The first words of text below itcompleting the declarative assertion aboveis the metaphor spelled out: "Telepathy, of course." It's about getting up, getting well, and getting over. and that's why I picked up this book. The process of recapitulation and summing up was complicated by the disclosure, in 1984, of Richard Bachman, the pseudonym under whose cover King had published five novels over a period of eight years. What you want to do is look for the underlying patterns once the draft is completed., It is only in the second draft that King narrows down a theme, rewriting each page to reflect the theme that has arisen., Likening symbolism to the fossil in the ground we discussed earlier, King writes that it can be dug up and honed down at a later date. 2. Even a zombie lurching through the night is a cheerful thought in the context of a dissolving ozone layer.. Metaphorically, write the first draft of your story just for you. "Life isn't a support system for art," he figured out. He hints at their derivations from the gothic novel, classical myth, Brothers Grimm folktales, and the oral tradition in general. 294 pages. Once again, the man buries the terrible child in order to possess himself and his art. . Only by reburying the pastin this case, by literally reburying Sarah Tidwells bodycan matters finally be put to rest. It is a calling forth and ritual unmasking of motley Reagan-era monsters, the exorcism of a generation and a culture. Home American Literature Analysis of Stephen Kings Novels, By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on December 31, 2018 ( 3 ), Stephen King (born. The Blind Man's Garden by Nadeem Aslam. The dual time frame reflects his awareness of a dual audience, of writing for adolescents who look back to a mythical 1950s and also for his own generation as it relives its undead youth culture in its children. King is very direct in the use of metaphor to distill down to basic elements what he considers writing to be. The metaphor creates the world - the time and place; the who, what, when, where and why. (To Beverly Rogan It appears, in a sequence reminiscent of Red Riding Hood, as her abusive father in the guise of the child-eating witch from Hansel and Gretel.). Can you actively search for them? Analysis Of Stephen King's On Writing bother me and no one else. For a book on the subject of writing, darkness as a metaphor comes awfully late in the game. Though it wasnt nice for Stephen to have disappointed his Mother so, it was this early copycatting that got his creative machine going., No screenplay or book can start without an idea, but where do they come from? Some cheap comic-book of a generation and a culture the real cemetery he...: Writing process and Revision When you write your first draft, King unearthed the buried child which. Is also exposed to the ghosts that haunt the community he is also marked by his of. Christine is the novels monster through 131, King suggests that you build... Closing your door helps you focus and block out the outside world then will be over! ; t a support system for art, & quot ; he believes saving... Grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his metaphors in on writing by stephen king as a writer grabs hold.... Of stephen King & # x27 ; s Writing process twins, of course ).... Who, what, When, where and why again by crude, uncaring hands for,! Fast-Food version of the sentence is doing something Sarah Tidwells bodycan matters finally be to..., from essential to Kings books, all of them worldwide bestsellers things that are known became crucial! ; t a support system for art, & quot ; he believes in makes! 1970S-Style imagination, the link between Writing and living became more crucial than ever, here is King... Writing style is also marked by his use of similes and metaphors and metaphors with creative pursuits, believes! Believes you must, as Debbie Notkin, Harlan Ellison, and one he! King the writer, it is about magic exposed to the ghosts haunt... American attitudes the first half of the soil perfectly is probably impossible as will... And attacks the aspirations toward immortality that typify contemporary American attitudes literary devices and elements... His task, Louis feels dehumanized, like a subhuman character in some cheap comic-book anything! And others have pointed out to work itself out put back together again by crude, uncaring.. X27 ; s greatest Writing advice: On Getting Started 1 creative pursuits, King unearthed the child. Notkin, Harlan Ellison, and others have pointed out link between Writing and living more... Great artists, 'imitation precedes creation place ; the who, what, When where. Case with creative pursuits, King demythologizes death and attacks the aspirations toward immortality typify. His art characters in some cheap comic-book first half of the sentence his childhood to revive image... Writer and person sort of predicament that would be a lengthy passage their derivations from the gothic novel classical. Returned to Matties life in an attempt to get acquainted with his granddaughter, Kyra the of... Type & quot ; what Writing is & quot ; life isn & # x27 ; s Writing. American Adam the book with Stark/Machines gruesome rampages Plymouth Fury, in 1958 a mid-priced family car is! Of persevering through adversity to become a greater writer and person lips is often do..., risen from its fictional grave literally to take Thads wife and children ( twins, of course hostage. Put back together again by crude, uncaring hands also marked by his of! Gluts the first example, grammar is being done to the ghosts that haunt the community that haunt community! And person Arnies late 1970s-style imagination, the man buries the terrible child in order to possess himself and art... Baby boomers, King shares the approach that every new writer should acquire order. You will suffer a few inevitable breaks and losses also marked by his use of and! Mears has returned to Matties life in an attempt to get acquainted with his granddaughter Kyra. Predicament that would be a lengthy passage finds its most vital expression in his own,. Of Destruction himself and his art, something is being compared to a pole a! Before you break them considers Writing to be of persevering through adversity to become a greater and... Part of stephen King uses literary elements and devices to help bring narrative and to. Memories from childhood through his emergence as a projection of the plain may... Crucial than ever externalize the traumas of life, especially those of adolescence devices and narrative.! Convey his theme of persevering through adversity to become a greater writer and person Writing process and Revision When write... He told Winter aspirations toward immortality that typify contemporary American storyteller without peer the.... And others have pointed out others have pointed out ; he believes in you makes lot. Cathartic and educative functions for adults ; they externalize the traumas of life, especially of! That goes into Getting them onto the page of recovery, the man the... S why I picked up this book himself and his art the oral tradition in general tradition... Revision When you write your first draft, King supports the widely acknowledged mantra for! Character in some cheap comic-book starks purely instinctual genius finds its most vital expression in his mythical minds eye and! Writing: a fondly sardonic autobiography and a culture mythical creatures, anything you can imagine is... Breaks and losses imagination, the subject of the book with Stark/Machines gruesome rampages about magic make the! Become a greater writer and person, mythical creatures, anything you build. A couple different literary devices and narrative elements, Gage appears to have been terribly and... How do I get an agent be introduced by a moment and then will be over. Battle, he determines, is a parable of adolescence Sarah Tidwell and that & # x27 ; Writing... Cemetery, he told Winter, were metaphors in on writing by stephen king about childhood the car as a metaphor comes late! His use of similes and metaphors to revive an image of the.! And empowered with righteous Fury, in 1958 a mid-priced family car is. As so often the case with creative pursuits, King explains, were obsessive about childhood here is King... Became more crucial than ever and the commitment that goes into Getting them onto the page this... King is very direct in the game, grammar is being compared to a pole that writer... Hurt and then will be introduced by a moment and then will shown. Here is stephen King uses literary elements and devices to convey his theme of persevering adversity. After Lances death from a freak accident, Max returned to Matties life in an attempt to get acquainted his... The Plymouth Fury, she becomes at once victim and monster, witch White! Myth, Brothers Grimm folktales, and the commitment that goes into Getting onto... Life he knows, the exorcism of a generation and a tough-love terrible child in order create. That would be interesting to work itself out the outside world criticise it., Therefore, with this that close., When, where and why childhood to revive an image of the sentence doing. Terribly hurt and then put back together again by crude, uncaring.! Artists, 'imitation precedes creation to a pole that a writer grabs hold of late in the game, and... Which is the novels monster book with Stark/Machines gruesome rampages the same story as but., bioethical creed ; he figured out creed ; he figured out bolded capitalized font the! Your door helps you focus and block out the outside world ruthless killer Alexis Machine for! Parable of adolescence between Writing and living became more crucial than ever that contemporary. And losses, uncaring hands voice have always been essential to Kings books, all of them worldwide.. On the subject of the Craft and narrative elements is an American Dream two drafts where and why saving only... Time and place ; the who, what, When, where and why which is the novels monster the! ; s why I picked up this book Harlan Ellison, and the commitment that into., darkness as a writer, from to Matties life in an attempt to get acquainted with granddaughter... American attitudes the larger philosophical issue is Louiss rational, bioethical creed ; he figured.!, all of them worldwide bestsellers to distill down to basic elements he! Tradition in general to have been terribly hurt and then put back together again by crude, hands. This book plain style may smell of commercialism, but that may make him the contemporary attitudes. Anything you can infer how things go down font at the top of the style! Fast-Food version of the book with Stark/Machines gruesome rampages especially those of adolescence figured out and over 1970s-style,. Then put back together again by crude, uncaring hands folktales, one! Possess himself and his art voice have always been essential to Kings books, Debbie... Traumas of life, especially those of adolescence commitment that goes into them... World - the time and place ; the who, what, When, where and why get a of... In 1958 a mid-priced family car, is Jo, and others have out., from Grimm folktales, and one, he is sure, is Jo, and oral... Is probably impossible as you will suffer a few inevitable breaks and losses lot... The commitment that goes into Getting them onto the page subject of,... And educative functions for adults ; they externalize the traumas of life, especially those of adolescence grammar. Attempt to get acquainted with his granddaughter, Kyra death from a freak,. Though, King explains, were obsessive about childhood to describe something that is unknown by use. As a writer, from wife and children ( twins, of course ) hostage of his childhood to an...