Peter Straub 1943-2022. Master of the Macabre.

By: Casandra Vicario

On September 6, 2022, it was announced that the life of poet and writer Peter Straub had come to an end. His work delves into the mysteries of the human mind, into the behavior of individuals facing extreme situations.

He was born in 1943 in the United States, the son of a sales agent and a nurse. At age 7, he was hit by a car and nearly lost his life; he had to learn to walk again. Curiously, a similar accident happened to his great friend and collaborator Stephen King, except King was already an adult.

The friendship between Stephen King and Peter Straub bore fruit in the form of two novels they worked on together with the goal of robbing thousands of readers of their sweet dreams: “The Talisman” in 1984 and “Black House” in 2001.

He was a poet and writer of more than 70 novels, though not all of them were horror. In 1979 came his first literary success with the publication of his book “Ghost Story”; other standout works by the master Peter Straub are “Koko”, “Fantasmas”, and “Floating Dragon”.

Despite being a great horror writer, he was not very popular, and only two films were made based on his work: the aforementioned novel “Ghost Story” came to the screen in 1981 under the direction of John Irvin, with a screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen. It starred Fred Astaire and Melvyn Douglas.

The other adaptation dates from 1977 and is known as “Full Circle Movie” or also “The Haunting of Julia” based on his 1975 text “Julia, If You Could See Me Now”, directed by Richard Loncraine and starring Mia Farrow, who plays Julia, a woman haunted by a ghost that could be… her deceased daughter.

Despite being a writer capable of provoking terror through words, in an interview for the magazine “Insomia” in 2006, he stated “there are a huge number of banal, ordinary things that frighten me. I'm a huge coward.”

Finally, “The New York Times”, quoting his wife Susan, reported that Peter Straub died on Sunday, September 4, 2022, from complications following a hip fracture; his death was not made public until the 6th of that same month.

His daughter Emma remembered him on Twitter with anecdotes and photographs, while other greats such as Neil Gaiman honored him as “One of the best writers I have ever read,” while his great friend Stephen King wrote, “Working with him was one of the great joys of my creative life.”

“The covers had slipped down until my chest was exposed. Then, with great effort, I grabbed them and pulled them back up over my head. I waited, I listened, I waited. Once more the steady tugging began.”

Excerpt from “Ghost Story” by Peter Straub (1979)

Sources:

Diccionario Ilustrado del Cine de Terror. Miguel Juan Payán and Javier Juan Payán.

Digital magazine “Insomnia”. Year 9. No. 103. July 2006.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/06/books/peter-straub-dead.html (abre en nueva pestaña)