by Winston Graham
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BOULDER LITERATURE – SKIP TO A PAGE
ANGELL, PEARL & LITTLE GOD ⎔ BEACH GIRLS ⎔ BOO ⎔ CAESAR ⎔ CHINA FLIGHT ⎔ CHRISTMAS BOOKS ⎔ DEATH DEALERS ⎔ DENVER POST ⎔ DR. NYET ⎔ EUROPE ⎔ FOURTH GHOST BOOK ⎔ GINGERBREAD MAN ⎔ GOLF LIKE THE GREATS ⎔ GOOD NEWS BIBLE ⎔ HOLDING ON ⎔ IN THIS HOUSE OF BREDE ⎔ KING OIL ⎔ MANIPULATOR ⎔ MY NAME IS ASHER LEV ⎔ NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS (RED & BLUE) ⎔ NO END TO THE WAY ⎔ ORANGE WEDNESDAY ⎔ PEANUTS ⎔ SQUARESVILLE ⎔ TEENY WEENY ADVENTURES ⎔ TIGER OF THE SNOWS ⎔ TOWER ⎔ TRAPEZE ⎔ WISH CHILD ⎔ YOUNG JETHRO ⎔ UNIDENTIFIED
A vicious boxer and a respected lawyer are in love with the same woman. She’s with the lawyer, but the boxer will stop at nothing. One Goodreads commenter says that the characters are richly in conflict with themselves and each other, and that the story deals well with the shifting 70s ideas about class status, and how people who couldn’t have interacted before are now at a more neutral standing. That speaks well to the relationships that exist between almost everyone but Jack, in The Shining. Jack might be the only character frustrated by the burgeoning neutrality that exists.
There’s also an interesting quality to the title that seems to describe a precious stone torn between two deities. The author, Graham, wrote a lot of historical novels about the 18th and 19th century, written between the 40s-80s mostly. He also wrote a 1972 non-fiction about The Spanish Armadas, and the historical novel The Grove of Eagles, set in the same period (so there’s a light Pillars of Hercules subtext there, possibly). His most famous work would be Marnie, which Hitchcock adapted in 1964. Marnie’s a suspense thriller about a travelling grifter woman finally being forced to face her true nature, which leads to her dealing with her traumatizing past. So Graham was no stranger to tough subject matter, and dealing with it in an adult fashion.
Also, the names Hansel and Gretel are translated to mean “God is Gracious” and “A Pearl” in the German understanding, so perhaps this book is a foreshadow of Wendy referencing that myth. And perhaps it’s meant to combine with what we get from studying the appearance of “Clews” in this room.
Next literary reference: Caesar: A Biography
MAIN PAGE ⎔ SECTION PAGE ⎔ SITE MAP ⎔ GLOSSARY
OTHER MAIN PAGES FOR SHINING ANALYSIS
THE MIRRORFORM ⎔ THE BEATLES ⎔ THE RUM AND THE RED
BACKGROUND ART ⎔ OVERLOOK PHOTOGRAPHS ⎔ GOLDEN SPIRALS
PHI GRIDS ⎔ PATTERNS ⎔ VIOLENCE AND INDIGENA ⎔ ABSURDITIES
THE STORY ROOM ⎔ ANIMAL SYMBOLS ⎔ THE ANNOTATED SHINING
EYE SCREAM 