![]() ![]() first of all, the pace: the book is monstrous slog. They remember the crime they had committed years before.and wonder if the time of retribution has finally arrived. Terrible things start happening in the small, sleepy town of Millburn. The men find themselves terrorized by terrible, realistic nightmares. Shades of Lovecraft, Poe and Hawthorne brood in the corners of the rooms they sit in. The theme of a story within a story is everpresent, as the work deals with a group of old men who tell themselves ghost stories on regular meetings. It is noticeable the first part is largely a reworking of The Turn of The Screw. Peter Straub himself says that " started as a result of my having just read all the American supernatural fiction I could find". Having read The Talisman and Black House which he co-authored with Stephen King I was anxious to know how he writes on his own, and Ghost Story came recommended by virtually everyone who has read it.Īs mentioned in the first paragraph, Ghost Story is a homage to the old masters who paved the road of fright for future generations. This is my introduction to the work of Peter Straub. Indeed, two characters bear the surnames of Hawthorne and James. I don't think one can truly rate Ghost Story as a novel without acknowledging the fact that it's a literary homage to the classics of the genre. At the time of his death, he and his wife lived in Brooklyn (New York City). Straub died on September 4, 2022, aged 79, from complications of a broken hip. The family lived in Dublin from 1969 to 1972, in London from 1972 to 1979, and in the New York City area from 1979 onwards. In 1966, Straub married Susan Bitker.They had two children their daughter, Emma Straub, is also a novelist. In addition to his many novels, he published several works of poetry during his lifetime. Several horror novels followed, with growing success, including "The Talisman" and "Black House", two fantasy-horror collaborations with Straub's long-time friend and fellow author Stephen King. He then wrote "If You Could See Me Now" (1977), and came to widespread public attention with his fifth novel, "Ghost Story" (1979), which was a critical success and was later adapted into a 1981 film. He briefly taught English at Milwaukee Country Day, then moved to Dublin, Ireland, in 1969 to work on a PhD, and to start writing professionallyĪfter mixed success with two attempts at literary mainstream novels in the mid-1970s ("Marriages" and "Under Venus"), Straub dabbled in the supernatural for the first time with "Julia" (1975). Straub earned an honors BA in English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1965, and an MA at Columbia University a year later. He attended Milwaukee Country Day School on a scholarship, and, during his time there, began writing. Straub read voraciously from an early age, but his literary interests did not please his parents his father hoped that he would grow up to be a professional athlete, while his mother wanted him to be a Lutheran minister. Peter Straub was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Gordon Anthony Straub and Elvena (Nilsestuen) Straub.
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