Stephen King

Stephen King is an American writer working in the genres of horror, thriller, fantasy, and the supernatural.

Childhood and youth

The world-famous author of horror novels, Stephen Edwin King, was born on September 21, 1947, at the Maine General Hospital in Portland, Maine. Little Stevie was the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King (strictly speaking, King’s father’s real surname was Spansky, but he changed it to the more euphonious King). Stephen’s birth was an unexpected surprise, since Ruth claimed that she could not have children (two-year-old David was the Kings’ adopted son), and it further heightened the already unfavorable atmosphere in the family. Two years after this significant event, Stephen’s father, a retired merchant marine captain, left home to buy cigarettes and never returned.

Left alone with a pile of unpaid bills, as well as two-year-old Stephen and four-year-old David, Ruth King did not give up. By nature a cheerful and energetic woman, she was in effect a vivid embodiment of the feminist movement, albeit unwillingly. She had to support her two growing sons on her own, working sometimes in a laundry and sometimes in a bakery. Of course, she had the support of numerous relatives—the King family often stayed with one or another of Ruth’s sisters. Part of Stephen’s childhood was spent in the towns of Fort Wayne, Indiana (where King’s paternal grandparents lived) and Stratford, Connecticut (where his aunt Lois lived). Stephen and his family also often visited Malden, Massachusetts, and Pownal, Maine, where Ruth’s sisters lived.

When Stephen was eleven, the King family returned to Maine, to the town of Durham. The move to Durham was prompted by the poor health of King’s maternal grandparents—they needed someone to look after them. Ruth was invited for this purpose. After arriving in Durham, Ruth, Stephen, and David lived in a house belonging to Stephen’s aunt Ethelyn and her husband Oren. The relatives provided Ruth with financial support, which, however, was enough for little more than food (for example, clothing for Stephen and David was also sent by relatives). After the death of her parents, Ruth King remained in Durham, taking occasional work as a housekeeper at an institution for the mentally disabled in New Gloucester. She