Gothic Worlds of Peter Straub

John C. Tibbetts is a professor at the University of Kansas. His many books on the arts include film, music and literature. He has been twice a finalist for the prestigious Bram Stoker Award.

“A major work of biography and criticism...a must read for any admirer of this restlessly protean man of letters”—The Washington Post; “John Tibbetts’ study is a detailed and long overdue look at an author whose dark psychological insights and brilliantly crafted sentences have placed him in the front rank of American authors for nearly four decades.”—Gary Wolfe, Roosevelt University; “Straub brings a poet’s sensibility to the field, creating a synthesis of horror and beauty. He writes a beautiful prose line that features narrative clarity, sterling characterization, and surprising bursts of humor.”—Stephen King; “Peter Straub has demonstrated the strength of American lit in modern horror by reclaiming the pioneering themes of Nathaniel Hawthorne, segueing through Shirly Jackson, and elegantly matching both with Stephen King’s rock star vigor.”—Greg Bear, Darwin’s Radio and Blood Music; “With The Gothic Worlds of Peter Straub, John Tibbetts makes a major contribution to the study of one of America’s finest, most underrated novelists. Approaching Straub’s complex body of work from a variety of thematic and literary perspectives, Tibbetts has written an intelligent, highly readable volume that no future Straub scholar can afford to ignore. This is an important...and very necessary...book.”—Bill Sheehan, At the Foot of the Story Tree; “It is difficult to speak of Peter Straub except in superlatives. Gifted with a prose style of impeccable fluency and elegance, he is also able to create scenes of clutching terror, heartrending pathos, and baffling mystery that set him several cuts above his contemporaries. To refer to him merely as a writer of horror tales is absurdly limiting. When we read him, we experience far more than merely a shudder up our spine; we gain profound insights into ourselves and others.”—S. T. Joshi, Unutterable Horror: A History of Supernatural Fiction; “Peter Straub has created a literary form all of his own, mating the macabre with the magical, interweaving the psychological with the uncanny, illuminating the dark side of humanity with the light of the fantastic. His vision is profoundly personal, his prose enviably elegant. Constantly surprising, his work invigorates and enriches the imagination, and it deserves to be savoured like the finest vintage.”—Ramsey Campbell, Ancient Images, Incarnate; “Peter’s gift of language is so great that he uses it to tear apart, break down and open up the ways that we see, perceive speak of and understand everyday life and experience. And in doing so, he reveals to us and draws us into the Gothic dimension, which is always with us, like a shadow.”—Thomas Tessier, Finishing Touches and Rapture.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsForeword: Locating Peter Straub (by Gary K. Wolfe)Introduction: “The Juniper Tree”One. “The Magic Taxi”: The Short StoriesTwo. “A Dark Necessity”: Straub’s American GothicThree. “King of the Cats”: The Fairy TalesFour. “Protean Impostures”: Straub and the DoppelgängerFive. “Datchery’s Children”: Stories of Crime and DetectionSix. “The Third Voice”: Straub and Stephen KingSeven. “Invisible Ink”: On Writers and WritingAppendix: “A Magellan of the Interior”: An Interview with StraubChapter NotesBibliographyIndex