Character
Jack Torrance
Arts, Music & Media
Play & Sport
Writing & NarrativeWho is Jack Torrance in the Agency editorial?
Jack Torrance is the protagonist of The Shining, the novel by Stephen King that Stanley Kubrick filmed in 1980. In the Agency editorial he appears in Issue.23, which quotes the sentence he types in the film, about all work and no play, to defend play and leisure in adult life.
In short
Jack Torrance is the writer at the centre of The Shining. Issue.23 of the Agency editorial, an edition about play and the Brazilian way of living, names him in the credit of a quotation. After arguing that enjoying video games as an adult breaks a stigma and that having fun at home is an important form of leisure in a present where we have to work and produce so much, the edition says that Stanley Kubrick said it first in the script of the classic movie The Shining. It then prints "All work and no play makes jack a dull boy." with the credit that Jack Torrance writes on a typewriter. The same sentence closes the edition, as a reminder to the reader.
Key facts
- Which work does Jack Torrance belong to?
- He belongs to The Shining. Issue.23 names the film and its director, Stanley Kubrick, right before the quotation.
- How does Issue.23 name Jack Torrance?
- By his full name, in the credit of the quotation, which says that Jack Torrance writes on a typewriter. The edition never uses the surname alone.
- Why does the edition quote the sentence?
- To support its defence of play: leisure and fun matter in a present of so much work. The edition repeats the sentence as its last line.
Who is Jack Torrance?
Jack Torrance is the protagonist of The Shining, the novel by Stephen King published in 1977 and filmed by Stanley Kubrick in 1980, with Jack Nicholson in the role. He is a writer who takes a job as the winter caretaker of an isolated hotel. In the film he fills page after page with a single sentence, an old English proverb about work and play.
How does Jack Torrance appear in Issue.23?
Issue.23 discusses Homo Ludens, the playful human, and says that keeping a playful attitude in adulthood is perhaps the biggest challenge for all of us. It defends video games as leisure for adults and then introduces the quotation by saying that Stanley Kubrick said it first in the script of The Shining. The sentence is credited to the moment in which Jack Torrance writes on a typewriter.
Below the quotation the edition shows an artwork that the author made in 2014, when he was 18 years old. It says nothing about the story of the character or of the film. At the very end, after its farewell, the edition asks the reader not to forget and repeats the sentence.
Source editions
Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.