Allusions

There are a lot of allusions in this novel. (See our "Shout-Outs" for the deets.) There are enough allusions that Shmoop's evil curved claws got evil curved cramps typing them all in. On every page, another allusion, to TV game shows, or movie stars, or country songs, or poets, or novelists.

Many is the time when we longed to release a soul-wrenching wail: "Whhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyy! Stephen, by all that is unholy, why! It's a vampire book! Whoever heard of a vampire book stuffed with TV game show references!"

Allusions = Real

And, yes, that's the point. All those allusions to boring political scandals like Watergate (11.195) (14.411) or boring TV news anchors like Walter Cronkite (2.148) are there to give this vampire story a totally believable background believable.

King is trying to set the town in the real world, where people watch game shows and read magazines like Cosmopolitan and Reader's Digest, a world stuffed with all the mental pop culture furniture that you barely think about. That way, when you look up and see the vampire, you can't doubt it, any more than you'd doubt "Dialing for Dollars" on the television screen.

There is another kind of reference, too—to horror. Virtually every possible vampire text is mentioned, from Dracula (over and over), to the comic book Vampirella (13.19). These references are totally self-conscious: Matt, for example, is actually reading tons of vampire literature and fiction as research.

So, again, the allusions serve to put the story in the real world, by showing that the characters have access to all the vampire books you do (and some that maybe you don't). If you were under attack by vampires, you'd read Dracula, and that's exactly what Matt does.

Allusions = Fiction

The pulp allusions also serve the opposite purpose, too. They remind you that this is fiction; that vampires are tropes who come from stories. They give King a chance to name-check his influences, from H.P. Lovecraft to the Hammer horror films.

The 'Salem's Lot vampires didn't just come out of nowhere. They have a history and a pedigree. King doesn't just want you to believe they're real; he wants you to believe that they belong in that dark lineage. That's why Barlow reads Edgar Allan Poe when he's not watching Gunsmoke.