Jump to content

Castle Rock (Stephen King)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 24.174.19.17 (talk) at 02:55, 2 July 2007 (→Works which make reference to Castle Rock). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Castle Rock, Maine is part of Stephen King’s fictional Maine topography, and as such serves as the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories. Built similarly to the prototypical King town Jerusalem's Lot (featured in the novel Salem's Lot) and the town of Derry (featured in the novel It), Castle Rock is a typical small New England town with several dark secrets. It first appeared in the novel The Dead Zone. King eventually decided to stop using it as the setting of his works, and originally ended its use with the novel Needful Things. However, it has now been mentioned in later works, such as Riding the Bullet and as part of the setting of Bag Of Bones. The town may be based on King's home town of Durham, Maine and Lisbon Falls, Maine, where he attended high school. Population of Castle Rock was 1280 by 1959 and around 1500 as of its final chronological appearance in Needful Things. In "Creepshow" (1982), There is a sign at the end of "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" that puts Portland at 37 Miles, and Boston at 188 miles. Geographically this puts Castle Rock in the northern hemisphere of a 37 mile radius from Portland Me. This could include places such as Durham, Danville, Auburn, Lewiston,Bridgton and maybe even Sabattus. A map on King's official website, though, places Castle Rock in Oxford County, in the vicinity of Woodstock.

Castle Rock is influenced by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, who created a trio of recurring fictional small towns in New England called Arkham, Dunwich and Innsmouth. King has somewhat mimicked this idea of Lovecraft's with the towns of Jerusalem's Lot, Castle Rock, and Derry. King has openly admitted being a great fan of Lovecraft, calling him the "20th century's dark and baroque prince". The actual name for the city appears to have been taken from a geographical feature which appears in William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies. This rocky area of the boys' island is where Jack Merridew sets up his rival camp.

Works in which Castle Rock is the main setting

Works which make reference to Castle Rock

The first film adaptation of a Stephen King novel to make reference to Castle Rock was Stand by Me. That film's director, Rob Reiner, later named his production company Castle Rock Entertainment. This company has produced several subsequent adaptations of King's work.

Longtime residents

  • George Bannerman - longtime sheriff and all-around good guy (deceased)
  • Evelyn "Aunt Evvie" Chalmers - sometime holder of the Boston Post cane (deceased)
  • Alan Pangborn - Sheriff of Castle County
  • Andy Clutterbuck - deputy sheriff with a drinking problem (deceased)
  • Reginald Marion "Pop" Merrill - owner of the town junk-shop, occasional money-lender, and generally unsavoury character (deceased)
  • John "Ace" Merrill - Pop's nephew, a career criminal and drug dealer (deceased)
  • Frank Dodd - Sheriff's deputy and serial killer (deceased)

Other Castle Rocks

The name of King's town would eventually become famous enough that it was used for a few other products other than King's writings. A monthly newsletter about Stephen King called Castle Rock was published from January 1985 through December 1989. For most of this period it was edited by King's brother-in-law, Christopher Spruce.

After the success of the film Stand By Me (an adaptation of King's novella The Body), director Rob Reiner decided to name his production company after King's town. This came to be known as Castle Rock Entertainment. That company later produced the film version of "Needful Things".

Other References

In Koushun Takami's novel Battle Royale, the town from which the ill-fated students hail is called Shiroiwa, which translates as "Castle Rock".

In a scene from the alien invasion movie Bad Taste, a sign post is shown with two directions listed: one towards to Kaihoro, the other leads to a town named Castle Rock. This is confirmed to be a reference to King's creation.

See also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Castle_Rock_(Stephen_King)&oldid=141930387"