Quote:
Originally Posted by taosaur
[...]"Schlock" can also be used interchangeably with "camp" or "cheese," which are not always disparaging. [...]
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We appear to be using different dictionaries. I haven't seen it used in anything other than disparaging terms. Even where people say they may have enjoyed something schlocky - as you do - it's with a sense of embarrassment or suggestion that it is in spite of the quality.
Quote:
Originally Posted by taosaur
[...]And King has produced plenty of schlock. Salem's Lot, Carrie, and much of his early, straight 'horror' work, was quite schlocky, and only some of it endearingly so. More recently, Under the Dome laid it on rather thick, and not to great effect.
I wasn't "writing off" anything. I like both books and have read them several times. I'm a fan, and they're two of my favorites. They're also unquestionably self-indulgent--King being his Kingiest at great length, no editors allowed. Neither is likely the best introduction to his work. If you find yourself enjoying some of his work from the mid-'80s onward, you'll probably love both these books, but they may not be the best place to start.
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You seem to be equating "schlock" to length and background story - which is where we disagree. I would go the other way and say that his various collections of short stories are where you find the schlocky material - nothing in them but cheap thrills, if you happen to like those sorts of thrills, which I don't much. There are very few King short stories I get much from. Some of his novellas are very good (as discussed previously), but it's usually his full novels where he captures my attention.
Even if I decided to accept your definition of "camp" or "cheese", I can't say that I see where that fits into the books you've chosen. Yes, some of the horror schemes in his books might be considered on par with some of the schlock movies, but in the longer novels in particular, the horror aspect is a small proportion of the work. I can't see anything cheap, trashy, camp, cheesy or inferior in the background work of his longer novels. They might be other things - such as boring, irrelevant, excessive - depending on your tastes, but not schlock.