Hearts in Atlantis
[-Back to Stephen King on the '60s-]

Every year for the past decade, a class book has united University of Maine students and faculty in a common dialogue about literature and contemporary issues.

This year's class book has done that and much more. The book, Hearts in Atlantis, is written by UMaine alumnus Stephen King. It is composed of three short stories and two novellas, one of which relates the experiences of a first-year student at The University of Maine in 1966.

Hearts in Atlantis, a movie starring Anthony Hopkins that is based on King's book, was released early this fall.

Some of the issues raised in the book assumed even greater importance for readers following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Students are drawing parallels between their reactions to terrorist threats and how the college-age characters in King's book cope with the Vietnam War.

Hearts in Atlantis is a teaching tool in a number of UMaine classes this academic year, including the English course "The Class Book: Stephen King and the 1960s," in which students study the Vietnam War era and how it subsequently shaped America.

This is the 10th year UMaine has incorporated a class book into its curricula.

For many years, the class book was required reading by first-year students in English 101 classes. Topics raised by the volumes were the focus of campus lectures and panel discussions. In recent years, UMaine's Division of Lifelong Learning has offered non-credit discussion classes and Web-based courses focused on the class book.

UMaine's first class book was Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes by Stephen Jay Gould. All but one of the class book authors have come to campus to lecture, effectively linking the writers with their readers.