Death of Peter Straub, master of the fantastic, collaborator of Stephen King

“He brought a poet’s sensitivity to stories of ghosts, demons and other creatures that jostle each other in the night» greeted the New York Times about Peter Straub. The writer, whose terrifying, supernatural novels put him at the forefront of horror fiction success of the 1970s and 1980s, alongside writers like Ira Levin, Anne Rice and his friend and collaborator Stephen King , died Sunday, September 4 in Manhattan. His disappearance was caused by complications after a broken hip. He was 79 years old.

Born March 2, 1943 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Peter Straub began writing in college. After graduating from Columbia University in 1966, he taught briefly in Mikwaukee before moving to Dublin three years later where he began writing professionally. He and his wife later moved to London and then to the New York area in 1979. They lived in Brooklyn until his death.

A fan of Henry James and John Ashbery, he published several collections of poetry before turning to novels and becoming one of the masters of the supernatural. He then conquered the critics with his third novel Julia published in 1975. The protagonist struggling alone against the evil spirits of a haunted house hoisted the novelist to the top of sales, restoring the image of the horror and fantasy genre considered then as sub-literature. In 1979, the book Ghost Story consecrated it to the general public. Both novels have been adapted for film.

“He was a modern writer, who was the equal of, say, Philip Roth, although he wrote about fantastic things”

Stephen King on Peter Straub

Successes followed one another, including The Talisman and its sequel Territories written in collaboration with his longtime friend Stephen King. “He was a unique writer in many wayssaid the author of Misery to our colleagues from New York Times. He was not only a literary writer with a poetic sensibility, but he was legible. And it was a fantastic thing. He was a modern writer, who was the equal of, say, Philip Roth, although he wrote about fantastic things.

The Talisman released in 1984, was a huge success. It features Jack Sawyer, a twelve-year-old boy who ventures into an alternate universe to save his cancer-stricken mother. If the reviews were mixed, recalls the Times, the book pranced twelve weeks at the top of the prestigious list of bestsellers of the American daily. The second part, Territories, written in 2001, also sold very well. The two authors were discussing a third book, but it was still in its infancy when Peter Straub left.