Pet Sematary Resources

Pet Sematary Resources

Teacher Info

http://litsum.com/pet-sematary/ Cliff Notes-Style site

Fabrizi, Mark A. "Reading the Cool Stuff: Students Respond to Pet Sematary." Reading Stephen King: Issues of Censorship, Student Choice, and Popular Literature Ed. Brenda Miller Power, Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, and Kelly Chandler. NCTE. Urbana, IL. 1997. pp. 139-147.

Literary Criticism

Nash, Jesse W. "Postmodern Gothic: Stephen King's Pet Sematary." Journal of Popular Culture. Vol. 30, No. 4, Spring, 1997. pp. 151–60

* Essay that examines whether Pet Sematary can be described as a Gothic novel

Heller, Terry. "Love and Death in Stephen King's Pet Sematary." Department of English--Coe College. Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 2001.

* An analysis of Louis's motives for using the Micmac burial ground, and Jud's motives for telling Louis about it

Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher. 'Pet Sematary' (review). New York Times. October 21, 1983.

Strengell, Heidi. "Frankenstein's Monster: Hubris and Death in Stephen King's Oeuvre." Department of English, University of Helsinki.

Flint, Christina. "Stephen King: More than gore?" The Daily Collegian. University Park, PA. Feb. 9, 1993.

Corstorphine, Kevin. "'Sour Ground': Stephen King’s Pet Sematary and The Politics of Territory." The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies. Issue 1, October 2006.

Reino, Joseph. "Impossible Cars and Improbable Cats: In a Misspelled Cemetery." Stephen King: The First Decade, Carrie to Pet Sematary. Twayne Publishers. Boston, MA. 1988. pp. 92-99.

Mustazza, Leonard. "Fear and Pity: Tragic Horror in King's Pet Sematary." The Dark Descent: Essays Defining Stephen King's Horrorscape. Ed. Tony S. Magistrale. Greenwood Press. Portsmouth, NH. 1992. pp. 73-82.

Schroeder, Natalie. "'Oz the Gweat and Tewwible' and 'The Other Side': The Theme of Death in Pet Sematary and Jitterbug Perfume." The Gothic World of Stephen King: Landscape of Nightmares. Ed. Gary Hoppenstand and Ray B. Browne. Bowling Green State University Popular Press. Youngstown, OH. 1987. pp. 135-41.

Winter, Douglas E. “Pet Sematary and the Paradox of Death” Literary Companion to Contemporary Authors - Stephen King. Ed. Karin Coddon. Greenhaven Press. Nov 2003.

Pharr, Mary Ferguson. ”A Dream of New Life: Stephen King’s Pet Sematary as a Variant of Frankenstein.” The Gothic World of Stephen King: Landscape of Nightmares. Ed. Gary Hoppenstand and Ray B. Browne. Bowling Green State University Popular Press. Youngstown, OH. 1987. pp. 115-125.

Magistrale, Tony. “Stephen King’s Pet Sematary: Hawthorne’s Woods Revisited” in Landscape of Fear: Stephen King's American Gothic (Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Press, 1988) pp.126-134

Also in The Gothic World of Stephen King: Landscape of Nightmares

Magistrale, Tony. "Hawthorne's Woods Revisited: Stephen Kings Pet Semetary." NHR. 14.1 Spring 1988 9-13

Magistrale, Tony. "The Shape Evil Takes: Hawthorne's Woods Revisited" Stephen King. Ed. Harold Bloom. Chelsea House. Philadelphia, PA. 1998. pp.

Castricano, Jodey. "'Darling,' it said: Making a Contract with the Dead." Cryptomimesis: The Gothic and Jacques Derrida's Ghost Writing. McGill-Queen's Press. 2003.
* An examination of the intersection between the writing of Jacques Derrida and the Gothic. Doesn't really illuminate much about Pet Sematary.

"The most successful articulation of this theme in Cryptomimesis is found in an astonishing interpretation of Steven King’s Pet Sematary. Castricano provides not so much a Derridean reading of King as a Kingian reading of Derrida. “In King’s novel,” Castricano argues, “the dead return not only because they were not properly buried but also because they represent, in Derridean terms, a certain remainder.”"

Audiovisual Resources

Pet Sematary (Special Collector's Edition) (1989) DVD

http://www.amazon.com/Sematary-Special-Collectors-Dale-Midkiff/dp/B000GBEWRU/

* Includes commentary by director Mary Lambert, and three excellent extras on the making of the movie and the story behind the story.

Fullcast abridged production of Pet Sematary by the BBC Audio CD Audio Cassette

Trivia for Pet Sematary (1989)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098084/trivia

Pet Sematary at the Internet Movie Database

Pet Sematary Quizzes

http://www.funtrivia.com/quizzes/literature/stephen_king/pet_sematary.html

Related Readings

The Death and Resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:1-44) 2

"The Monkey's Paw" – W.W. Jacobs (Lesson Plans and other resources)

"The Indian Burying Ground" - Philip Freneau 2

"The Wendigo" by Algernon Blackwood 2

"Lazarus" - Leonid N. Andreyev 2 3

American Indian Burial Mounds

Mound Builders - Wikipedia entry

Michigan's mysterious Indian mounds

The Mound Builders from The History of Lenawee County

The Mound Builders by George Bryce

Mi'kmaq Burial Ground - Nova Scotia

Wendigo

Wendigo in Northern Minnesota (a good overview of the legend)

Wendigo - Wikipedia entry

Looking for the Windigo? - A Great Resource for Wendigo studies.
Unlocking the Myth - “The Windigo” (Issue 6), by Becky Flesher
The Windigo – Pretty good account of legend. With links.
Roosevelt's Wendigo Story written by Theodore Roosevelt.
Legion Magazine – “Beware The Windigo” by Steve Pitt
Wendigo FAQ

Two good Wendigo books:

* Windigo; An Anthology of Fact and Fantastic Fiction - edited by John Robert Colombo. 1982

* Windigo Psychosis; A Study of a Relationship between Belief and Behavior among the Indians of Northeastern Canada - Morton I. Teicher. 1960.

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