Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Stephen King's The Shining. Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.
The Shining: Introduction
The Shining: Plot Summary
The Shining: Detailed Summary & Analysis
The Shining: Themes
The Shining: Quotes
The Shining: Characters
The Shining: Symbols
The Shining: Theme Wheel
Brief Biography of Stephen King
Historical Context of The Shining
Other Books Related to The Shining
- Full Title: The Shining
- When Written: 1976
- Where Written: Boulder, Colorado
- When Published: 1977
- Literary Period: Contemporary
- Genre: Horror
- Setting: The Colorado Rocky Mountains
- Climax: The boiler in the Overlook Hotel explodes, killing Jack Torrance and destroying the hotel.
- Antagonist: Jack Torrance; the evil forces of the Overlook Hotel
- Point of View: Third Person
Extra Credit for The Shining
The Power of Suggestion. The Stanley Hotel—where King reportedly came up with the idea for The Shining—had no history of hauntings or paranormal occurrences until after its connection with the famous book. Now, the Stanley Hotel is synonymous with ghosts, and guided tours of the hotel’s paranormal hotspots are offered during both the day and night.
Repeat Offenders. Stephen King is known for repeating characters within many of his books, and The Shining is no exception. Dick Hallorann, the cook at the Overlook Hotel who shares Danny’s psychic powers, also appears in King’s novel, It. In It, Hallorann is an old army friend of Mike Hanlon’s dad. Mike is one of the novel’s main characters, and Hallorann saves his father’s life during an arson attack by white supremacists.