Misery

• Genre: Fiction; horror/suspense; psychological horror
• Originally Published: 1987
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 860L; college/adult
• Structure/Length: 4 parts; approx. 368 pages; approx. 12 hours, 21 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Bestselling romance novelist Paul Sheldon is injured in a car accident, then held captive and terrorized by an obsessed fan, Annie Wilkes.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Graphic violence; graphic imagery; profanity; sexual content; murder; drug and alcohol abuse

Stephen King, Author

• Bio: Born in 1947 in Portland, Maine; attended University of Maine; prolific novelist of horror and suspense; earned a teaching degree but worked initially in an industrial laundry; sold short stories early in his career; worked as an English teacher in a public high school; left teaching with the success of his first published novel, Carrie, in 1973; has earned great fame with over 65 published novels and novellas, many short stories, movies adapted from his works, and several nonfiction works
• Other Works: The Shining (1977); Christine (1983); It (1986); Needful Things (1991); Under the Dome (2009)
• Awards: ALA’s The Reading List (2010)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• The Writing Process
• Drug Addiction
• Confinement and Captivity

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the literary and authorial contexts regarding horror genre elements and Stephen King’s career that are evident or represented in Paul’s conflict.