Disasters in S. King’s short stories: Fantasy becoming reality
- DOI
- 10.5922/vestnikpsy-2026-2-5
- Pages
- 59-69
Abstract
The article is devoted to the study of manifestations of catastrophic consciousness in the short story. The methodological basis of the research consists of scholarly works in literary studies, as well as in philosophy, sociology, and art studies, which provide definitions, describe the essence of the concepts of “catastrophic consciousness” and “catastrophe,” and propose a typology of catastrophes. A brief overview of works of contemporary English-language literature representing this problem is presented, and the main themes and directions of its development are identified. The practical material consists of stories from the collection “Night Shift” by contemporary American writer Stephen King, which depict both manifestations of catastrophic consciousness and catastrophes themselves — real or fictional but possible. Some of these were predicted by the writer with a relatively high degree of accuracy. The results of the interpretative analysis of the stories show that they describe different types of catastrophes, identify their causes, and reveal dangerous social, cultural, psychological, and ethical consequences for humanity.