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''The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger'' is a dark-fantasy novel by American author
Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
. It is the first volume in his '' Dark Tower'' series. ''The Gunslinger'' was first published in 1982 as a
fix-up A fix-up (or fixup) is a novel created from several short fiction stories that may or may not have been initially related or previously published. The stories may be edited for consistency, and sometimes new connecting material, such as a frame ...
novel, joining five short stories that had been published between 1978 and 1981. King substantially revised the novel in 2003; this version has remained in print ever since, with the subtitle "RESUMPTION". The story centers on
Roland Deschain Roland Deschain of Gilead is a fictional character and the protagonist of Stephen King's '' The Dark Tower'' series. He is the son of Steven and Gabrielle Deschain and is descended from a long line of " gunslingers", peacekeepers and diplomats o ...
, the last
gunslinger Gunfighters, also called gunslingers () or in the late 19th and early 20th century gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in shootouts. Today, the term "gunslin ...
, who has been chasing his adversary, "the man in black," for many years. The novel fuses
Western fiction Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 20th century and ...
with
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
,
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
, and
horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction * ...
, following Roland's trek through a vast desert and beyond in search of the man in black. Roland meets several people along his journey, including a boy named Jake, who travels with him part of the way.


Background and publication

The novel was inspired by
Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...
's poem "
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" is a narrative poem by English author Robert Browning, written on 2 January 1852, and first published in 1855 in the collection titled '' Men and Women''. The poem is often noted for its dark and atmosp ...
" (1855), which King read as a sophomore at the
University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...
. King explains that he "played with the idea of trying a long romantic novel embodying the feel, if not the exact sense, of the Browning poem." King started writing this novel in 1970 on a ream of bright green paper that he found at the library. The five stories that constitute the novel were originally published in ''
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Bouche ...
'': # "
The Gunslinger ''The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger'' is a dark-fantasy novel by American author Stephen King. It is the first volume in his '' Dark Tower'' series. ''The Gunslinger'' was first published in 1982 as a fix-up novel, joining five short stories that ...
" (October 1978) # "
The Way Station ''The Way Station'' is a novella by American writer Stephen King, originally published in '' The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'' in April 1980. In 1982, "The Way Station" was collected with several other stories King published in '' ...
" (April 1980) # " The Oracle and the Mountains" (February 1981) # " The Slow Mutants" (July 1981) # " The Gunslinger and the Dark Man" (November 1981) It took King twelve-and-a-half years to finish the novel. The finished product was first published by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. as a limited edition in 1982. The following year, because the ''
Pet Sematary ''Pet Sematary'' is a 1983 horror novel by American writer Stephen King. The novel was nominated for a World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1984, and adapted into two films: one in 1989 and another in 2019. Background In 1979, King was wr ...
'' cover noted ''The Gunslinger'' among King's previous works, many fans called the offices of King, Grant, and
Doubleday Doubleday may refer to: * Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name Publishing imprints * Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House * Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...
wanting more information on the already-out-of-print book. This led to another run of ten-thousand copies. In 1988, Plume released it in trade paperback form. In 2003, the novel was reissued in a revised and expanded version with modified language and added and changed scenes intended to resolve inconsistencies with the later books in the series. It is dedicated to Edward L. Ferman, long-time editor of ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction''.


Setting

The book tells the story of The Gunslinger,
Roland of Gilead Roland Deschain of Gilead is a fictional character and the protagonist of Stephen King's '' The Dark Tower'' series. He is the son of Steven and Gabrielle Deschain and is descended from a long line of "gunslingers", peacekeepers and diplomats of ...
, and his quest to catch the man in black, the first of many steps toward Roland's ultimate destination, The Dark Tower. The main story takes place in a world somewhat similar to the
Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...
but in an alternate timeframe or parallel universe. Roland exists in a world that has "moved on." This world has a few things in common with our own, however, including memories of the old song "
Hey Jude "Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock music, rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single was the Beatles' fir ...
" and the child's rhyme that begins "
Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit "Beans, Beans, The Musical Fruit" (alternately "Beans, Beans, good for your heart") is a playground saying and children's song about how beans cause flatulence (''i.e.'' farting). The basis of the song (and bean/fart humor in general) is the hig ...
", as well as the existence of
hamburgers A hamburger (or simply a burger) consists of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. The patties are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or chilis w ...
and
beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...
. Vestiges of forgotten or skewed versions of real-world technology also appear, such as a reference to a gas pump that is worshipped as a god named "
Amoco Amoco ( ) is a brand of filling station, fuel stations operating in the United States and owned by British conglomerate BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and petroleum, oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company i ...
" and an abandoned way station with a water pump powered by an "atomic slug."


Plot

As Roland travels across the desert in search of the man in black, whom he knows as Walter, he encounters a farmer named Brown and his raven, Zoltan. Roland spends the night there and recalls his time spent in Tull, a small town Roland passed through not long before meeting them. The man in black had also stayed in the town; he brought a dead man stricken by addiction to the opiate-like "devil grass" back to life and left a trap for Roland. Roland meets the leader of the local church, who reveals to him that the man in black impregnated her with a
demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...
. She turns the entire town against Roland, who is forced to kill everyone. When he awakens the morning after telling Brown this story, his mule is dead, forcing him to proceed on foot. Roland arrives at an abandoned way station and first encounters Jake Chambers, a young boy. Roland collapses from dehydration, and Jake brings him water. Jake remembers neither how long he has been at the way station nor exactly how he got there, and he hid when the man in black passed through. Roland hypnotizes Jake to determine the details of where he came from and discovers he died in a different universe that appears much closer in nature to our own. He was pushed in front of a car while walking to school in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
. Before they leave, Roland and Jake search for food in a cellar and encounter a demon. Roland masters the demon and takes a jawbone from the hole from which it spoke to him. Roland and Jake make their way out of the desert. Roland rescues Jake from an encounter with a
succubus A succubus () is a female demon who is described in various folklore as appearing in the dreams of male humans in order to seduce them. Repeated interactions between a succubus and a man will lead to sexual activity, a bond forming between them, ...
and after they've made camp, tells him to hold on to the jawbone as a protective charm. Roland leaves him at camp and couples with the succubus, who is also an oracle, to learn more about his fate and the path to the Dark Tower. In a flashback, it is revealed that Roland is the son of Steven Deschain, a Gunslinger and lord of Gilead. Roland received a brutal training at the hand of his teacher, Cort. Roland was tricked into a premature test of manhood by dueling with Cort at age 14, earlier than any other apprentice. He was provoked by
Marten A marten is a weasel-like mammal in the genus ''Martes'' within the subfamily Guloninae, in the family Mustelidae. They have bushy tails and large paws with partially retractile claws. The fur varies from yellowish to dark brown, depending on ...
, who served as Steven's wizard and seduced Roland's mother, Gabrielle Deschain. That was a time of instability and revolution. Roland defeated Cort in battle by choosing his hawk, David, as his weapon and sacrificing David to distract Cort. Jake and Roland see the man in black at the mountain. He says he will meet just one of them on the other side, which aggravates Jake's fears that Roland will either kill or abandon him. Roland and Jake make their way into twisting tunnels within the mountain, traveling on an old railway
handcar A handcar (also known as a pump trolley, pump car, rail push trolley, push-trolley, jigger, Kalamazoo, velocipede, gandy dancer cart, platelayers' cart, draisine, or railbike) is a railroad car powered by its passengers or by people pushing t ...
. They are attacked by subterranean creatures called "Slow Mutants." At the tunnel's exit, they continue on foot. As the track on which they are traveling begins to break, Roland lets Jake fall into an abyss and continues his quest. After sacrificing Jake in the mountain, Roland makes his way down to speak with the man in black. The man in black reads Roland's fate from a pack of cards, which includes such omens as "the sailor," "the prisoner," "the lady of shadows," "death," and the Tower itself. The man in black states that he is a pawn of Roland's true enemy, who now controls the Dark Tower itself. The man in black also reveals that he was Marten. He then sends Roland a vision of the universe, zooming out past a red planet covered in canals, a ring of rocks, a large stormy planet, a ringed planet, and then to galaxies and beyond, attempting to frighten Roland by showing him how truly insignificant he is. The man in black then asks Roland to renounce his quest. Roland refuses, and the man in black tells him to go west before putting him to sleep. When Roland awakens, ten years have passed, and there is a skeleton next to him that he assumes to be the man in black's. Roland takes the jawbone from the skeleton before traveling to the shore of the Western Sea.


Revised and expanded edition

King revised ''The Gunslinger'' in 2003. In his introduction to the new edition, King stated that he felt the original version was "dry" and difficult for new readers to access. He also made the storytelling more linear and the book's plot more consistent with the series ending. Other changes were made to resolve continuity errors introduced by later volumes. The added material was over 9000 words (35 pages) in length. Some changes include: *Removal of a reference to Roland reading a magazine in Tull. Later information presented in '' The Drawing of the Three'' suggests paper is a scarcity in Roland's world. *Reference to 12 years having passed since the fall of Gilead, which happened when Roland was a teenager, is changed to "unknown years." Otherwise, it would be deduced that Roland is in his 30s, whereas later books imply Roland is ancient. *Likewise, the man in black originally says he is "nearly immortal;" in the revision, he says this of both himself and Roland. *" olanddidn't know where Cort was" becomes "Cort was dead" because the Fall of Gilead was not fleshed out until later books. *Roland's cold-hearted killing of Allie is changed to make him appear more humane. Originally, when the town of Tull turns on Roland, Allie is seized by a townsperson and used as a human shield. She begs Roland not to fire before he guns down both her and her captor. In the revised version, she has been driven mad by Walter by the time she is seized, and she begs Roland to put her out of her misery. *The town of Farson is changed to Taunton because
John Farson ''The Dark Tower'' is a series of eight novels written by American author Stephen King, which incorporate multiple genres including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. Below are ''The Dark Tower'' characters that come into play as the ...
is a character in the later books. *References to the Beast were changed to refer to the
Crimson King The Crimson King, known to some as Los' or Ram Abbalah, is a fictional character created by Stephen King and the main antagonist of King's eight-volume ''Dark Tower'' series, as well as the novels ''Insomnia'' (1994) and '' Black House'' (2001 ...
, who otherwise is not mentioned in the series until '' The Waste Lands''. *"Blue Heaven" and "Algul Siento," terms revealed in the final books, are mentioned. *A single Taheen appears early in the revised version. The Taheen are a race of creatures that wouldn't originally appear until the final three books. *A major textual change is the fate and identity of the man in black. In the original text, Walter's death at the end of the story is of no uncertainty to Roland. In the revised edition, Roland speculates whether his discovery of Walter's bones is some trick or whether Walter has truly died. The original text also kept Walter and Marten Broadcloak completely disambiguated. Even after the death of Walter, Broadcloak was still to be found and killed. Later, in ''Wizard and Glass,'' Walter and Marten, along with
Randall Flagg Randall Flagg is a fictional character created by American author Stephen King, who has appeared in at least nine of his novels. Described as "an accomplished sorcerer and a devoted servant of the Outer Dark", he has supernatural abilities involvi ...
, are all revealed to be the same person. Although no reference to the name "Flagg" is made in the revised edition of ''The Gunslinger'', all references to Walter and Marten are altered so that it is plausible they are the same man. * Jake Chambers, originally nine years old, was made 10–11 years old in the revised edition. *In general, the world the gunslinger walked through in the original text was a run-down version of our own. The text mentions England, the star Polaris, Mars, Jesus and other biblical figures, Easter, All-Saint's Eve (Halloween), and
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
and
Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...
gods A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...
. In the revision, most of these references were removed to make Roland's world only vaguely like ours. *In the expanded edition of the novel, on the last page before the text, the word RESUMPTION appears. In the "Argument" foreword for '' Wolves of the Calla'', King explains that this is the subtitle of the novel.


Film

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
and
Nikolaj Arcel Nikolaj Arcel (born 25 August 1972) is a Danish filmmaker and screenwriter. He is best known for his 2012 film ''A Royal Affair'', which won two prizes at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival and which ...
have confirmed that the 2017 film ''The Dark Tower'' is a sequel to the events of the ''Dark Tower'' book series, following Roland Deschain on his "last time round" the cycle to the titular Dark Tower, equipped with the Horn of Eld. The film was released August 4, 2017 by
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
. The film has been stated to be a combination of the events of ''The Gunslinger'' and of the third novel '' The Waste Lands'', while also incorporating significant story points from '' The Dark Tower''.


References


Further reading


Comparison of the original 1982 text and the 2003 revised edition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunslinger, The 1982 American novels 1982 fantasy novels Dark fantasy novels 1 Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Books with cover art by Michael Whelan Donald M. Grant, Publisher books