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:
“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)
“I don’t believe in villains or heroes, only in right or wrong ways that individuals are taken, not by choice, but by necessity or by certain still uncomprehended influences in themselves, their circumstances and their antecedents.”
—Tennessee Williams (1914–1983)
“The first in time and the first in importance of the influences upon the mind is that of nature. Every day, the sun; and after sunset, night and her stars. Ever the winds blow; ever the grass grows.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)