The writer, Robert W. Chambers, wasn’t a writer to start. He was a painter. It was his seven years in Paris studying art that led to his first three books.
The first was a novel of his time there called In The Quarter. The third was a collection of poetry titled With the Band. Neither of them made a splash.
The middle volume, however, did. Titled The King in Yellow, it is a collection of related stories largely centered around the mythical and horrifying play The King in Yellow. The volume went through numerous editions in those last few years of the 19th century and continues to be reprinted today.
The reason it had such an effect on genré fiction is because it wasn’t like anything else that had been published previously. Chambers took the influence of two short pieces by Ambrose Bierce—more known for his Civil War stories and his Devil’s Dictionary—and created an otherworldly atmosphere of horror without traditional ghosts, vampires and demons.
Influenced Horror Writers
The King in Yellow became a major influence on the work of H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch and other writers who were changing the face of and defining horror fiction in the 20th century. Lovecraft, Smith and Howard virtually dominated the field in the 1920s and 1930s, and influenced modern writers like Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley.
Lovecraft wrote to Smith in a letter: “Chambers is like Rupert Hughes and a few other fallen Titans—equipped with the right brains and education, but wholly out of the habit of using them. … Chambers must have been impressed with ‘An Inhabitant of Carcosa’ & ‘Haita the Shepherd,’ which were first published during his youth. But he even improves on Bierce in creating a shuddering background of horror—a vague, disquieting memory which makes one reluctant to use the faculty of recollection too vigorously."
To J. Vernon Shea in 1933, Lovecraft wrote: “I think ‘The Yellow Sign’ is the most fascinating product of Chambers’s pen, & altogether one of the greatest weird tales ever written. The brooding, gathering atmosphere is actually tremendous.” (www.hplovecraft.com).
Smith also considered “The Yellow Sign,” from The King in Yellow, to be the best horror story ever written. In his list, (www.eldritchdark.com), he ranks it above Edgar Allen Poe, above Algernon Blackwood, above Lovecraft and all others.
Horror Not Chambers' Main Focus
While The King in Yellow brought Chambers his first success as a writer, the horror genré, for which he is best remembered, didn’t hold his attention long or often. He spent much of his early years writing American historic novels, then turned to the forgettable “society” novels that brought him a good income.
Bookseller, the late Ken Dorn who was an expert on Chambers’ books, once said these novels weren’t worth the paper they were printed on. He would make a joke of it by bringing a copy of The Firing Line or The Common Law to a knowing customer with a quarter and asking him to take it away.
Chambers wrote a few other speculative-fiction books, including The Mystery of Choice, The Maker of Moons and In Search of the Unknown.
Yet the one most sought after remains his early and best book, The King in Yellow.
Shawn M. Tomlinson - I have been a writer/columnist/designer/editor/photographer/writing coach for more than a quarter-century working in newspapers, ...
