Re the "Rage" debate, for what it's worth - an extract from the revised introduction to The Bachman Books (dated April 16th, 1996).
King writes (speaking of Bachman as a separate part of himself):
"One of his books, Rage, has become especially troublesome for Stephen King. It has been a factor in a number of nasty (and sometimes mortal) incidents in the real world, incidents in which disturbed teenage boys have held classmates and teachers hostage, have in some cases committed murder. How much responsibility does the author of a book bear when that book seems to form some part of the triggering mechanism for a psychotic or criminal interlude? I don't know. I've spent sleepless nights with the question, a lot of them, and I still don't know. Neither, apparently, does the FBI, who has queried me concerning the book. One psychologist associated with such a case stated that "this novel never walked into a classroom and shot anybody" and that is comforting, but one wonders - one has to wonder - if it is the whole truth. What gives me more comfort is the sure knowledge that the book was written with no bad intent. although it was written by a troubled eighteen-year-old boy-man who seems a stranger to me now; that boy-man was really neither King nor Bachman but a weird (and perhaps dangerous) hybrid of both."
There's more, but that's pretty much the gist of it
King writes (speaking of Bachman as a separate part of himself):
"One of his books, Rage, has become especially troublesome for Stephen King. It has been a factor in a number of nasty (and sometimes mortal) incidents in the real world, incidents in which disturbed teenage boys have held classmates and teachers hostage, have in some cases committed murder. How much responsibility does the author of a book bear when that book seems to form some part of the triggering mechanism for a psychotic or criminal interlude? I don't know. I've spent sleepless nights with the question, a lot of them, and I still don't know. Neither, apparently, does the FBI, who has queried me concerning the book. One psychologist associated with such a case stated that "this novel never walked into a classroom and shot anybody" and that is comforting, but one wonders - one has to wonder - if it is the whole truth. What gives me more comfort is the sure knowledge that the book was written with no bad intent. although it was written by a troubled eighteen-year-old boy-man who seems a stranger to me now; that boy-man was really neither King nor Bachman but a weird (and perhaps dangerous) hybrid of both."
There's more, but that's pretty much the gist of it
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