King's the Stand: Thesis material?

Syphon of Oor-Tael

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Hello again folks!

After a long hiatus, I've come back to seek your help.

I am doing a master's thesis to become a Master of the Arts in English, and after several abortive attempts I have decided to try and turn The Stand into my focus.

The question for you is:

Are there versions of the Stand with radical enough differences for me to warrant comparing them for my thesis? I'm not talking about a change on the level of "In abridged Stu does A, and in unabridged, he does B", but rather changes along the lines of Lord of The Rings, where Aragorn was first a hobbit called Trotter.

I'm looking for changes in character, motivation, etc.

Could you please help me? :)
 
I don't know an answer for definite, but I doubt it. Stephen King doesn't plan his novels like Tolkien did; he sits down and lets the story flow out. He often releases 2-4 novels a year- The Stand (which of course is not a small book) came out a few months after his short story collection Night Shift, and he churned out The Long Walk and The Dead Zone not even a full year later-, so he probably isn't in the time-consuming business of writing a story then making sweeping changes to it.

Basically, the first draft probably closely resembles the final edition.
 
I've read both, and I'd have to differ.

The two versions are different, particularly around one character, The Kid, and I think, for a dissertation, you'd need to read both. It's not a change of motivation, as such, but a deeper understanding of the characters. Failing reading both, I'd go with King's preferred, longer, version, although the shorter (ha!) edited version is the tighter read, the unabridged version definitely adds stuff not shown in the other.

It's not to do with King rewriting a new book but that the first version was savagely cut by editorial (no wonder, given the length). I'm not saying the longer book is better, but it is the closer version to King's vision.
 
So, what you're saying is that it's not really a good idea? I was afraid of this :(
Now I'm back to having no ideas. Thanks for the heads up anyway.
 
No, I think it is a good idea but if you're going to do it read both versions. Also, you could expand it out and look at how King uses Randall Flagg under various guises in other books.
 
No, I think it is a good idea but if you're going to do it read both versions. Also, you could expand it out and look at how King uses Randall Flagg under various guises in other books.

Under your stated methodology of comparing substantial differences I'd have to say that there's nothing in it as big as you're asking - or perhaps that you could really interrogate as a stimulus.

However, as Springs has advised, looking at Randall Flagg in King's other stories would give you a wealth of stimulus and a really interesting paper. I think you really should explore her idea as it's a corker.

pH
 
Well, to give you an idea what I'm looking for:

My friend did his thesis on Tolkien, and the different iterations of the Hobbit and LOTR. For instance, how Aragorn changed. He used to be a hobbit called Trotter before he became human. Also, how Tolkien had to go back and changed the Hobbit after he'd created LOTR.
 

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