American writer and screenwriter Richard Matheson: biography, creativity

Fiction writers in the United States have always collected a huge audience of fans who were waiting for the release of each book with great impatience. This genre is always popular and loved by many readers. With the development of technology, fantastic works began to be screened, which led to their even greater success. Richard Matheson also became popular due to his key book and her motivation for the film.

Acquaintance with the writer

Before learning about the work of the American writer, we will get acquainted with his biography. Richard Burton Matheson was born in 1926 in the United States. His parents were Norwegian immigrants who ended up in Allendale and decided to start a new life. The New York area Brooklyn became a home for the future science fiction writer. Here, at only eight years old, the boy came up with his first story, which was later published in the local press.

Training

Before the war, Matheson studied at the Technical School, and then began to serve in the infantry. The Second World War produced an impression on the young guy, which he later described in his novel "Bearless Warriors." This work became autobiographical and the main first work before the rapidly developing career.

Before the book was published, Richard Matheson went to the journalism faculty of one of the US universities. In Missouri in the late 40-ies, he receives a bachelor's degree.

A family

A couple of years, the writer moves to California and marries. Over time, he had four children. Three of them decided to follow in the footsteps of their father. The boys became writers and writers.

Creation

The flourishing of Richard's career began immediately after graduation from the university. Thanks to his love for fairy tales and fantastic stories, the writer knew in what genre he would work. Already in 1950 he began to publish his short stories in magazines. The first was an awesome fantasy work - "Born of a Man and a Woman". This story about the mutant boy scared and won the readership. Later this was the name of the collection of short stories.

In California, Matheson continued to write his gloomy stories that pierced the heart and soul. Each of them was something quite unusual and new in the literature. They aroused interest on a par with horror, and new books were waiting with great impatience. So, in 1951 were written: "White silk dress", "House of Massacre", "Witch War", "Wet straw", etc.

A couple of years, the author paid attention and detective stories as a genre of his works. There were also written novels "Someone is bleeding to death" and "Rage on Sunday."

Style

Of course, the author-fiction writer has his own style, which is mainly aimed at challenging the reader with a shiver, fear and trembling. Richard Matheson used in his works various techniques characteristic for him. For example, he had a series of stories with an original ending, there were also stories that resemble a more psychological thriller. Many of his stories were devoted to satire, stereotypes and genre clichés.

Film career

Activity as a screenwriter began already in 1960. The first place of his work was the American company "American International Pictures". They were engaged in projects in the genre of horror movies, so Matheson was the best addition to them. For a long time, the science fiction writer worked on adapting Edgar Poe's works to the screenplays of films. Thanks to him, films were made: "Raven", "Fall of Asher's House", etc.

Working on the novels of the American writer, Richard tried to make something of their own in the film adaptation, so that the film turned out to be more vivid and memorable. The screenwriter tried to add notes of the comic, which subsequently made of "Crow" an excellent comedy.

After Matheson decided to turn to the works of Fritz Leiber and Jules Verne. It attracts their work, and the scenarios are magnificent. He does not leave authorial activity, continuing to create stories, collecting them in collections. Thus, 86 stories entered the "Assembly ..." of 1989.

Richard Matheson has not managed to work with one great journalist for his career. Of course, he managed to create a film with Steven Spielberg. "Duel" was released in 1971. The story of this film was somewhat autobiographical. Matheson, relying on the situation of his life, wrote about the driver-paranoid who pursued the car and made a real duel.

Fantast worked on the novel "The Night Chaser" (Jeff Rice), and also did not forget about the screen version of his works. Thus, the film "The Legend of the Hell's House" was released. Interesting was the publication of scenarios of the series "Twilight Zone". He regularly wrote the script for a series that became popular and exciting.

Last works

Richard worked very much and hard. Thanks to him came a huge number of books and films in the genre of fantasy and horror. In the early 90's, Matheson published a series of Western books. And at the end of the century his book "Where Dreams Cause" is filmed, and it becomes one of the best films of the 20th century. Next came the film "Echo of an echo, also based on the book of Matheson.

In the early 21st century, Richard Matheson, whose books were waiting for his fans and just fans of fiction, did not leave the writer's work. He produced an opus after the opus. His last work was the novel "Generation", published in 2012.

The author died in 87 years in the USA, in Los Angeles.

The legendary novel

"I am a legend" by Richard Matheson has come a long way from publication to screening. The novel was published back in 1954 and forever formed in the minds of mankind the image of sinister zombies, vampires and other monsters. The main idea of the novel is the popularization of the very apocalypse that will inevitably come to Earth.

The cause of the disaster was a pandemic. That is, vampirism here is presented as a disease. According to legend, the idea of Matheson appeared after watching "Dracula". Then he asked himself, if one vampire is terrible, then how terrible is the world inhabited by these creatures? In 2004, giving an interview, Richard confidently said that, in his opinion, "I am a legend" is the best novel in his work.

The plot of the book is quite simple. The hero of the novel remained the only uninfected person on Earth. Most likely, the reason for this was Robert's recent bite of an infected bat. Now, after he had been ill, his blood was immune to the virus of vampirism. The hero hides in his armored house at night, and goes out in the morning and in the afternoon to remove corpses of uninvited guests from his dwelling and to repair the shelter.

After the experience of depression, Robert decides to study this disease and is accepted for research. One day he meets Ruth, who is allegedly not infected. Conducts the analysis, but still discovers that the virus in her blood is. She runs away from him, but later warns of danger. He tells that there is a certain society like her, who have not become vampires to the end and are trying to restore the social order.

The final of the book is represented by the suicide of Robert, who swallows the poison, realizing that he has not been accepted by the new society because of his normality. The 2007 film is somewhat different. He is adapted to the current technology, and the main character has a friend - a dog. The ending is also changed.

Famous stories

"Steel Man" also gained fame through screen versions. But first it was published in 1956. The story of the battle of a man with robots also in his time did not leave director Sean Levy indifferent . In 2011, there was a film with a different name - "Living Steel". Here it is worth noting that the similarity of the film and the story is not great. It can be said that the director was only inspired by the story of Matheson. Most likely, this is due to the fact that since the writing of the story "Steel Man" almost 60 years have passed before the release of the film.

An interesting story in 1970 was written by Richard Matheson. "Button-button" is a provocative story that will make anyone think. What should I do if a box with a button comes into your house? Maybe this is an advertising move? Will you click the button after learning that you will receive 50 thousand dollars, but this will kill one stranger?

It is worth noting that the "Button-Button" was filmed twice. At first it was a series of "Twilight Zone" in 1986, later, in 23 years, the film "Box." In Russian, the name of the story of Matheson sounds somewhat differently: "Click on the button, click".

Richard Matheson received the World Fantasy Award, the Bram Award and the Edgar Allan Poe Award. Three years before his death, he was given a place in the Hall of Fame of science fiction. His admirer was Ray Bradbury, and Stephen King argued that it was Richard's work that influenced his rise as a writer.