Robert W. Chambers

Robert W. Chambers (1865-1933) studied art in Paris in the late 80’s and early 90’s, where his work was displayed at the Salon. However, shortly after returning to America, he decided to spend his time in writing. He became popular as the writer of a number of romantic novels, but is now best known as the author of “The King In Yellow”. This is a collection of the first half of this work of short stories which have an eerie, other-worldly feel to it; but the stories in the second half are essentially love stories, strongly coloured by the author’s life as an artist in France.

The King in Yellow

Robert Chambers

The King in Yellow, the forbidden play which induces despair or madness in those who read it. A book of short stories first published in 1895 by Robert W. Chambers, is named after a fictional play with the same title which recurs as a motif through some of the stories. The book has been described by as a classic in the field of the supernatural. There are ten stories in total, including the first four, "The Repairer of Reputations," "The Mask," "In the Court of the Dragon" and "The Yellow Sign." It is the book that inspired many, including H.P. Lovecraft, up to the recent HBO series True Detective.

Bárbara Deoti

Chambers Robert William

The book is named after a fictional play with the same title which recurs as a motif through some of the stories. The first half of the book features highly esteemed weird stories, and the book is described by S.T. Joshi as a classic in the field of the supernatural.

Matthew Royal

Shockingly little on the King in Yellow; I was expecting much more in the vein of HP Lovecraft, but it was a bargain bin version of Henry James instead. The first story was fine, the rest were the sort of pretentious male fantasies you'd expect "Frasier"'s Niles Crane to write in his personal diary. Skip everything after part 2.

A Book of Short Stories The King in Yellow By Robert W. Chambers A Classic Publication The King in Yellow is a book of short stories by American writer Robert W. Chambers, first published by F. Tennyson Neely in 1895. The book is named after a fictional play with the same title which recurs as a motif through some of the stories. The first half of the book features highly esteemed weird stories, and the book has been described by critics such as E. F. Bleiler, S. T. Joshi and T. E. D. Klein as a classic in the field of the supernatural. There are ten stories, the first four of which ("The Repairer of Reputations", "The Mask", "In the Court of the Dragon", and "The Yellow Sign") mention The King in Yellow, a forbidden play which induces despair or madness in those who read it. "The Yellow Sign" inspired a film of the same name released in 2001. The British first edition was published by Chatto & Windus in 1895

A Book of Short Stories

Tilde C

Chambers uses a remarkably modern language for his time, and is occasionally as cleverly witty as, say, Pratchett, but it was the pre-Lovecraftian mad horror that drew me to this book. All the short stories involding the king in yellow are wonderfully creepy and curious -- but I was somwhat disappointed the recurring motifs of madness and the titular play are all done with after the four first stories, then it's a series of love stories from there on out. They're good love stories (this is where his dry wit shines) and I adore the bohemian settings he uses for them, but they feel dissonant to the horror stories that preceded them. Had this collection been published today I'm pretty sure any editor would at least have reshuffled the order of stories so the change didn't feel so abrupt.

The supernatural stories that make up Robert W. Chambers's classic piece of weird fiction are tied together by a play that brings madness to all who read it: The King in Yellow. It's a book that draws readers in with an irresistible yet innocent opening act, then drives them insane with the poisonous words of Act 2. It's a book that cannot be suppressed, spreading like a disease from city to city, continent to continent. An influence on writers from H. P. Lovecraft to Neil Gaiman, The King in Yellow is one of the most important works of American supernatural fiction. In this dangerously unputdownable graphic-novel adaptation, I. N. J. Culbard brings to life a thrilling tale of horror that will make readers laugh and cry and tremble with fright . . . Read at your own risk.

Maggie Gordon

That was... odd. Given that The King in Yellow is an important part of weird fiction, I should have expected that. I can't speak to how good the adaptation is as I have never read the original. I do feel like I was missing something though, throughout the piece. The connections between the stories felt tenuous, and the narrative didn't seem to hang together, even in the individual stories. Perhaps this was a cause of the graphic format. It don't really think this story was particularly suited to being portrayed in images. I feel like it probably relied heavily on prose. Well, at least I feel inspired to read the original!

Rhiannon Jerrom

I can appreciate why some people love this book and the idea of the story was very intriguing to me but I just found it difficult to read and exceptionally dull.

Pam Sartain

An enjoyable version of the King in Yellow with the same stories from the book.

Matt Wilson

Maya

Index Librorum Prohibitorum

Tobias V. Langhoff

Michael Cowell

Zoul

Liam Harper

Jeff

Jasmine

Edward Steel

Mark Wadley

Maxie Froelicher

Dani

Leafling

Owen Kraft

Robert William Chambers

Toward the end of the year 1920 the Government of the United States had practically completed the programme, adopted during the last months of President Winthrop's administration. The country was apparently tranquil. Everybody knows how the Tariff and Labour questions were settled. The war with Germany, incident on that country's seizure of the Samoan Islands, had left no visible scars upon the republic, and the temporary occupation of Norfolk by the invading army had been forgotten in the joy over repeated naval victories, and the subsequent ridiculous plight of General Von Gartenlaube's forces in the State of New Jersey. The Cuban and Hawaiian investments had paid one hundred per cent and the territory of Samoa was well worth its cost as a coaling station. The country was in a superb state of defence. Every coast city had been well supplied with land fortifications; the army under the parental eye of the General Staff, organized according to the Prussian system, had been increased to 300,000 men, with a territorial reserve of a million; and six magnificent squadrons of cruisers and battle-ships patrolled the six stations of the navigable seas, leaving a steam reserve amply fitted to control home waters. The gentlemen from the West had at last been constrained to acknowledge that a college for the training of diplomats was as necessary as law schools are for the training of barristers; consequently we were no longer represented abroad by incompetent patriots. The nation was prosperous; Chicago, for a moment paralyzed after a second great fire, had risen from its ruins, white and imperial, and more beautiful than the white city which had been built for its plaything in 1893. Everywhere good architecture was replacing bad, and even in New York, a sudden craving for decency had swept away a great portion of the existing horrors. Streets had been widened, properly paved and lighted, trees had been planted, squares laid out, elevated structures demolished and underground roads built to replace them. The new government buildings and barracks were fine bits of architecture, and the long system of stone quays which completely surrounded the island had been turned into parks which proved a god-send to the population. The subsidizing of the state theatre and state opera brought its own reward. The United States National Academy of Design was much like European institutions of the same kind. Nobody envied the Secretary of Fine Arts, either his cabinet position or his portfolio. The Secretary of Forestry and Game Preservation had a much easier time, thanks to the new system of National Mounted Police. We had profited well by the latest treaties with France and England; the exclusion of foreign-born Jews as a measure of self-preservation, the settlement of the new independent negro state of Suanee, the checking of immigration, the new laws concerning naturalization, and the gradual centralization of power in the executive all contributed to national calm and prosperity. When the Government solved the Indian problem and squadrons of Indian cavalry scouts in native costume were substituted for the pitiable organizations tacked on to the tail of skeletonized regiments by a former Secretary of War, the nation drew a long sigh of relief. When, after the colossal Congress of Religions, bigotry and intolerance were laid in their graves and kindness and charity began to draw warring sects together, many thought the millennium had arrived, at least in the new world which after all is a world by itself.

The King in Yellow

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