Abstract:
ABSTRACT
ANGLO-SAXON: THE KEY TO STEPHEN KING'S "THE DARK TOWER"
by
Jennifer Dempsey Loman 2009
Master of Arts in English
California State University, Chico
Summer 2009
Stephen King engages in medieval imitation in his seven-volume series The
Dark Tower, drawing upon many aspects of the Middle Ages—the Arthurian myth, the
thematic concepts of commitatus and exile, Anglo-Saxon etymology, and the narrative
frame of the dream allegory – to construct within The Dark Tower novels interconnected
riddles. Indeed, The Dark Tower series is an extended riddle for both King’s
Constant Reader and for the series’ protagonist, Roland Deschain of Gilead. King dares
both Roland and the reader to answer a “Who am I” riddle about Roland and a “What
Am I” riddle about the Tower, the focus of Roland’s grail-like quest. Through a close
reading of King’s magnum opus, I demonstrate that an awareness of Anglo-Saxon riddling
is the key to unlocking the interrelated riddles and the puzzling ending of The
Dark Tower novels.
