Book review: Danse Macabre

Stephen King, Danse Macabre. New York: Gallery Books, 2010. ISBN: 9781439170984.

Genre: nonfiction

Subgenre: horror, essays

Format: trade paperback

Source: Berea branch, Madison County (KY) Public Library

This is Stephen King's treatise on the horror genre. The edition I read is the 2010 edition that includes three updates to the original 1981 edition. For me, those updates were part of the issue I am not rating this book higher. The book itself, including appendices and index at the end is already well over 400 pages. Those updates are a bit over 20 pages. To be honest, the updates should have been included at the end of the book, not at the beginning. You end up reading the updates (forenotes), then having to go back chronologically as you start reading the actual book itself. It would have made more sense to include that material at the end. Oh by the way, the book also includes an afterword. 

As I mentioned, it is a book well over 400 pages, which confirms that this is indeed a Stephen King book. I've liked a lot of King's writing over time, but as other readers often point out, he can be seriously verbose, and this book is no exception. The material itself is very interesting, and King is highly knowledgeable on the topic. If there is anyone to give you a well informed tour of the horror genre and why it works, King is the man for the job. However, he is a lot like that rambling old timer relative of yours that just keeps talking and taking detours and digressions. He can be interesting to listen to, but he can also be very tiring as you wonder if there is a point to the ramblings. Most of the time there is a point but boy does he take forever to get there. 

A strength of the book is in the recommendation King makes for readers. He has read a lot of books and seen a lot of movies and television shows, especially old time classics, so you'd do well to check some of them out. The book includes two appendices as I said. One is a list of films between 1950 and 1980 that he feels have contributed to the horror genre somehow, and another for books; for the books, he acknowledges not all may be to your taste but they did contribute something to the genre. For both lists, he marks his favorites with an asterisk. I am will be jotting some titles down to add to my TBR and my to be watched lists down the road. 

Overall, it is a good but not great book. If you are a hardcore horror fan, you have probably read this already, and if not, what are you waiting for? If you want to learn about the horror genre, this is a good selection, but keep in mind it is like being in a series of college lectures with a professor who drones a bit too much at times (King mentions he does teach some college courses). Still, if you want a good overview of the genre, this is worth the effort. In the end I liked it, but I think it could have used a little editing to make it a bit leaner. 

3 out of 5 stars.

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A few additional reading notes: 

The central thesis of the book: 

"That being the case, the central thesis of Danse Macabre, written all those years ago, still holds true: A good horror story is one that functions on a symbolic level, using fictional (and sometimes supernatural) events to help us understand our own deepest read fears" (xiii). 

On horror as a dance: 

"But on another, more potent level, the work of horror really is a dance-- a moving rhythmic search. And what it's looking for is the place where you, the viewer or the reader, live at your most primitive level" (4). 

When horror tends to do well. Do keep in mind this was written way before the COVID-19 pandemic: 

"Horror movies and horror novels have always been popular, but every ten or twenty years they seem to enjoy a cycle of increased popularity and visibility. These periods almost always seem to coincide with periods of fairly serious economic and/or political strain, and the books and films seem to reflect those free-floating anxieties (for want of a better term) which accompany such serious but not mortal dislocations. They have done less well in periods where the American people have been faced with outright examples of horror in their own lives" (29). 

According to King, all horror tales can be grouped as follows: 

"All tales of horror can be divided into two groups: those in which the horror results from an act of free and conscious will-- a conscious decision to do evil-- and those in which the horror is predestinate, coming from outside like a stroke of lightning. The most classic horror tale of this latter type is the Old Testament story of Job, who becomes the human Astroturf in a kind of spiritual Superbowl between God and Satan" (64). 

On a side note, figuring that out about the story of Job was one of my steps on my way to leave the religion I was indoctrinated on as a child and becoming a heathen. 

If you want to learn more or go more in depth into 19th century supernatural horror than he does in the book, King recommends you read H.P. Lovecraft's long essay Supernatural Horror in Literature. For me, I have the essay in my volume of Lovecraft's The Complete Fiction that I am slowly reading through. The essay is at the end of the volume; I may skip ahead to read it sooner. 

On dreams: 

"Dreams are only mind-movies, the scraps and remnants of waking life woven into curious little subconscious quilts by the thrifty human mind, which is loath to throw anything out. Some of these mind movies are of the X-rated variety; some are comedies; some are horror movies" (88).

On writers: 

"I think that writers are made, not born or created out of dreams or childhood trauma-- that becoming a writer (or a painter, actor, director, dancer, and so on) is a direct result of conscious will. Of course there has to be some talent involved, but talent is a dreadfully cheap commodity, cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work and study; a constant process of honing" (88). 

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