Your gripe has been repeated by nearly everyone who's read the series.
Oh how I wonder if that was what he originally had in mind.
A Fresh Journey to the Tower
Moderator: lucimay
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
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"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
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"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
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"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
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A Gunslinger
- The Gap Into Spam
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- Location: Southern WI (Madison area)
Menolly wrote:So...
I didn't bring Song of Susannah with me on our road trip, as I get very car sick if I attempt to read while riding and I figured we wouldn't have time for me to read when we stopped. I just now finished Roland and Eddie's visit to Stephen King as portrayed in this book. It makes sense in the context of the story, but...well...it still strikes me as really egotistical.
Absolutely and utterly bizzar, even if all things do serve the Beam. I hope the story carries me away again. For me, this rankled...
It does break the "4th wall" a bit, that is for sure. One thing I'll give King is credit for not only daring to be so egocentric, but also to write himslef as something of a feckless worm.
"I use my gun whenever kindness fails"
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Menolly
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*musing, feel free to ignore*
Why does King refer to himself as Gan? Does anyone know the word in another language? As a Jew, I instantly associate it with Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden. I am sure most are familiar with the Judeo-Chr-stian story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
But kabbalah says more about Gan Eden. It is sometimes used as a name for heaven, other times used to denote "the" most pure spiritual place to attain through meditation, as being the purest place Man can attain. Since the world in which Roland and Eddie is supposed to be the "real" one, could King have chosen the Hebrew allusion of pure when he chose Gan for himself? Literally it translates as "garden" or "fenced," but mystically it implies much more...
:::nearly finished with Song of Susannah. She's currently inside The Dixie Pig:::
*edit*
Just finished, including the Pages from a Writer's Journal at the end. It always surprises me how there are so many similarities in both words and the definitions of those words themselves between Western and Eastern mysticism. The truth is the truth world wide. It has only been revealed with different faces...
Why does King refer to himself as Gan? Does anyone know the word in another language? As a Jew, I instantly associate it with Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden. I am sure most are familiar with the Judeo-Chr-stian story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
But kabbalah says more about Gan Eden. It is sometimes used as a name for heaven, other times used to denote "the" most pure spiritual place to attain through meditation, as being the purest place Man can attain. Since the world in which Roland and Eddie is supposed to be the "real" one, could King have chosen the Hebrew allusion of pure when he chose Gan for himself? Literally it translates as "garden" or "fenced," but mystically it implies much more...
:::nearly finished with Song of Susannah. She's currently inside The Dixie Pig:::
*edit*
Just finished, including the Pages from a Writer's Journal at the end. It always surprises me how there are so many similarities in both words and the definitions of those words themselves between Western and Eastern mysticism. The truth is the truth world wide. It has only been revealed with different faces...
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Menolly
- A Lowly Harper
- Posts: 24080
- Joined: Thu May 19, 2005 12:29 am
- Location: Harper Hall, Fort Hold, Northern Continent, Pern...
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:::shaking head vigorously:::Avatar wrote:Uh, as far as I remember, he doesn't call himself Gan.
He does. Or else I am entirely misreading this passage.
While hypnotised by Roland...
It goes on, but that’s the gist of it…In [i][u]Song of Susannah[/i][/u] Stephen King wrote: Roland laughed at that--the dry sound of a stick broken over a knee. "Do you know what you are?"
King shook his head. His lower lip had pooched out like a sultry child.
"Do you know what you are?"
"The father first. The husband second. The writer third. Then the brother. After brotherhood I am silent. Okay?"
“No. Not oh-Kay. Do you know what you are?”
A long pause. “No. I told you all I can. Stop asking me.”
“I’ll stop when you speak true. Do you know—”
“Yes, all right, I know what you’re getting at. Satisfied?”
“Not yet. Tell me what—”
“I’m Gan, or possessed by Gan, I don’t know which, maybe there’s no difference.” King began to cry. His tears were silent and horrible. “But it’s not Dis, I turned aside from Dis, I repudiate Dis, and that should be enough but it’s not, ka is never satisfied, greedy old ka, that’s what she said, isn’t it? What Susan Delgado said before you killed her, or I killed her, or Gan killed her. ‘Greedy old ka, how I hate it.’ Regardless of who killed her, I made her say that, I, for I hate it, so I do. I buck against ka’s goad, and will until the day I go into the clearing at the end of the path.”
Insomnia is a long, and at times, difficult read. I think it's just a wonderful story.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
It reminds me a lot of Wizard and Glass, or the other way around, I think Insomnia came first. The first time I read WaG, I hated it, thought it meandered around too much, and didn't have a point. Because I'd already read Insomnia, I stuck with it, and was rewarded with King's best story.
It's a solid book that you'll appreciate when you're done, and I think it'll grow on you when you think back to it. I've thoroughly enjoyed it with every re-read.
It's a solid book that you'll appreciate when you're done, and I think it'll grow on you when you think back to it. I've thoroughly enjoyed it with every re-read.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
A lot of people really slammed Insomnia when it came out. I guess I'm a fan of underdogs, but I just kept plowing through it.
It is tough, but it's one of the very few books that I'll actively encourage people to read (and finish).
It is tough, but it's one of the very few books that I'll actively encourage people to read (and finish).
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
Now I'm really jonesing to read it again.
I want to go up with Ralph again.
I want to go up with Ralph again.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________