Influences
Castle Rock is influenced by the works of H. P. Lovecraft, who created a series of fictional small towns in New England called Arkham, Dunwich, Innsmouth and Kingsport. King has mimicked this idea of Lovecraft's with the towns of Jerusalem's Lot, Castle Rock, Derry, and – to a lesser extent – Little Tall Island and Haven. King has openly admitted being a great fan of Lovecraft, calling him the "20th century's dark and baroque prince".
Castle Rock may be based on King's home town of Durham, and Lisbon Falls, Maine, where he attended high school. Durham was the home of a 19th Century millenarian sect known as The Kingdom whose home, "Shiloh", was an imposing wooden complex on a hill, capped by a huge crown. The central portion of the Shiloh complex still stands and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A town called Castle Hill exists in Aroostook County.
Read more about this topic: Castle Rock (Stephen King)
Famous quotes containing the word influences:
“I am fooling only myself when I say my mother exists now only in the photograph on my bulletin board or in the outline of my hand or in the armful of memories I still hold tight. She lives on in everything I do. Her presence influenced who I was, and her absence influences who I am. Our lives are shaped as much by those who leave us as they are by those who stay. Loss is our legacy. Insight is our gift. Memory is our guide.”
—Hope Edelman (20th century)
“Nothing changes more constantly than the past; for the past that influences our lives does not consist of what actually happened, but of what men believe happened.”
—Gerald W. Johnson (1890–1980)
“Do not seek anxiously to be developed, to subject yourself to many influences to be played on; it is all dissipation.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)