For nearly forty years, King has fed our imaginations with a panoply of spooks and monsters, from telekinetic teenagers, vampires, and malevolent clowns to space aliens, crazed fans, haunted hotels, and our own psyches. Moreover, he is one of the country's most commercially successful writers. Yet for all of King's popular success, critics have long been hesitant to welcome him into the pantheon of American literature. Still, the National Book Foundation awarded King its Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 2003.