Stephen King Talks About the Origin of Fear During a Lost 1989 Animated Interview

In 1989, the famous horror author Stephen King opened up to Professor Thomas Smith of the Public Radio Book Show about his childhood, his imagination and the origin of fear. This conversation took place during a previously lost interview which was wonderfully animated by Blend for the video series “Blank on Blank”.

When we deal stories of the supernatural whatever the supernatural element is, the mind sort of bifurcates and the story begins to talk to us on two levels. On the intellectual level you grasp the fact that it is make believe, that it is a dream, that these things don’t happen. But the subconscious grabs the story in a symbolic way, whether we like to or not. …I think that in a lot of supernatural stories we’re dealing with fears that exist on a very practical level. And in between those two levels, the shout on top where the make believe is going on and the whisper underneath where the subconscious mind is saying, yes but this could really happen if you just could change a few things.

Stephen-King-Clowns

Stephen-King-Driving

Stephen-King-Stuffed-Animals

Stephen-King-Twins

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.