The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers

According to some estimates, Chambers was one of the most successful literary careers of his period, his later novels selling well and a handful achieving best-seller status.

His most famous, and perhaps most meritorious, effort is The King in Yellow, a collection of weird short stories, connected by the theme of the fictitious drama The King in Yellow, which drives those who read it insane.Ĭhambers returned to the weird genre in his later short story collections The Maker of Moons and The Tree of Heaven, but neither earned him such success as The King in Yellow.Ĭhambers later turned to writing romantic fiction to earn a living. Then, for reasons unclear, he devoted his time to writing, producing his first novel, In the Quarter (written in 1887 in Munich). On his return to New York, he succeeded in selling his illustrations to Life, Truth, and Vogue magazines. Chambers studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, and at Académie Julian, in Paris from 1886 to 1893, and his work was displayed at the Salon as early as 1889.

Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.Ĭhambers was first educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute,and then entered the Art Students' League at around the age of twenty, where the artist Charles Dana Gibson was his fellow student. This means that you're getting the story exactly as it was first published, without any alterations or additions from the author. In order to guarantee the best possible level of preservation of the book's original content, we've taken every precaution. Though it was not particularly successful at time of its release, it has since become a cult classic within horror circles due to its influence on later works such as Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and Stephen King's Dark Tower series among others who have drawn inspiration from this seminal work of weird fiction. The titular character appears only briefly throughout some of these stories but his presence looms large over each one as he acts almost like an unseen force guiding events from behind the scenes while never quite revealing himself fully to any character or reader alike. The main themes of the book revolve around fear, insanity, and cosmic horror with many characters facing their own personal demons throughout the various tales that make up the book. The stories are connected by the mysterious play “The King in Yellow” which drives its readers to madness when read aloud or even just thought about too much. It is considered an early work of horror fiction and has been influential on writers such as H.P. The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories by Robert W.

The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers