Rage (novel)
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Rage (originally titled Getting It On) is the first novel by Stephen King published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Though he began writing it in 1966, before his first published novel, Carrie (1974), it wasn't published until 1977.
Note that this novel is not to be confused with The Rage: Carrie 2, which was a movie sequel to Carrie and is unrelated to this novel.
Plot summary
The novel is about a high school senior who brings a gun to school one day and shoots his teacher. From there, he takes his class hostage, and comes to a stand-off with the police over his actions. He makes the class into a sort of therapy group; making them tell embarrassing secrets about themselves and giving apologies to classmates they hate.
Connections to actual school shootings
The novel's plot is reminiscent of the events of the Columbine High School massacre and other school massacres. After that event happened, the author allowed Rage to go out of print out of fear that it may inspire similar events, as it had already been associated with two previous high school shootings: Michael Carneal, who shot three students on December 1 1997 in West Paducah, Kentucky had a copy of Rage in his locker and Barry Loukaitis, who killed two fellow students and his algebra teacher on February 2 1996 in Moses Lake, Washington, even quoted directly from the book ("This sure beats algebra, doesn't it?") after shooting his teacher. [1] (http://copycateffect.blogspot.com/2005/04/f-factor-to-stephen-kings-rage.html) At the time King decided to let Rage run out of print, it was part of a compilation of Richard Bachman books called The Bachman Books. The other novels that appeared in that compilation (The Long Walk, Road Work, and The Running Man) are now published as separate books.
External links
- Stephen King's Keynote Address (http://www.horrorking.com/interview7.html)
- The Copycat Effect: "F-Factor" to Stephen King's Rage - Deciphering School Schoolings (http://copycateffect.blogspot.com/2005/04/f-factor-to-stephen-kings-rage.html)fr:Rage (Stephen King)