Mention "The Shining" and almost everyone will answer "Stanley Kubrick". The origin of this masterpiece of the seventh art nevertheless finds a book whose author is not completely unknown, as this is Stephen King. The Kubrick film has largely overshadowed this novel is quite understandable. However, I think the work of King deserves a minimum of consideration. It is a supernatural thriller of great drama, written in a lively and colorful prose, rich psychologically coherent characters, and in which King depicts, through the figure of Jack Torrance, a kind of double fantasized about him -even. The fundamental subject of this book, and that's why Kubrick became interested is obviously the fine line between reason and madness. By what mysterious mental process, asks King, a being apparently sane he switches one day in dementia? I do not think he brings to this issue a definitive answer, but the implications of course Jack Torrance seems in obvious contrast: each of us carries within him a share of madness, a simple click can free. In other words, we are all Jack Torrance in power!
