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In the Quarter
The story deals with life in the Quartier Latin, in Paris, where the merry art students live and move and have their being, and over which the halo of romance ever hangs; a peculiar people with whom we have spent many an entrancing hour in company with such volumes as "Trilby" and "A King in Yellow."
161 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1894
3 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Robert W. Chambers
747 books583 followersRobert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.
Chambers 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. 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. On his return to New York, he succeeded in selling his illustrations to Life, Truth, and Vogue magazines. Then, for reasons unclear, he devoted his time to writing, producing his first novel, In the Quarter (written in 1887 in Munich). 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.
Chambers 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.
Chambers later turned to writing romantic fiction to earn a living. 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. Many of his works were also serialized in magazines.
After 1924 he devoted himself solely to writing historical fiction.
Chambers for several years made Broadalbin his summer home. Some of his novels touch upon colonial life in Broadalbin and Johnstown.
On July 12, 1898, he married Elsa Vaughn Moller (1882-1939). They had a son, Robert Edward Stuart Chambers (later calling himself Robert Husted Chambers) who also gained some fame as an author.
Chambers died at his home in the village of Broadalbin, New York, on December 16th 1933.
Chambers 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. 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. On his return to New York, he succeeded in selling his illustrations to Life, Truth, and Vogue magazines. Then, for reasons unclear, he devoted his time to writing, producing his first novel, In the Quarter (written in 1887 in Munich). 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.
Chambers 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.
Chambers later turned to writing romantic fiction to earn a living. 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. Many of his works were also serialized in magazines.
After 1924 he devoted himself solely to writing historical fiction.
Chambers for several years made Broadalbin his summer home. Some of his novels touch upon colonial life in Broadalbin and Johnstown.
On July 12, 1898, he married Elsa Vaughn Moller (1882-1939). They had a son, Robert Edward Stuart Chambers (later calling himself Robert Husted Chambers) who also gained some fame as an author.
Chambers died at his home in the village of Broadalbin, New York, on December 16th 1933.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 17, 2025
-Spoilers ahead-
In The Quarter is Chambers’ first literary work and unfortunately it shows. While his brilliant prose still occasionally shines through, it’s hard to appreciate when it’s locked within an unfocused and unsatisfying narrative. One gets the distinct feeling Chambers was making it up as he went along. There are random disorienting and poorly marked time skips, characters seemingly having knowledge of events they weren’t present for, and major plot points occurring with very little set up.
On the positive side, its portrayal of l’ecole des beaux arts and the excitement of the artistic culture in late 1800’s Paris is very vivid and full of life—Chambers the artist was clearly writing what he knew. Unfortunately this backdrop is swapped out for practically the entire latter half of the book in favor of a hunting expedition to the forests Bavaria, leaving behind the protagonist’s set of artistic friends for a new cast of characters that come practically out of nowhere, and are just as unceremoniously dropped when the author has to wrap up the final brief chapters of the story back in Paris. There are great scenes of camaraderie amongst the artists (while they last), and it’s fun to see these Latin Quarter characters in their first outing, as Chambers returns to them a number of time in his later stories—including the last set of tales in the King In Yellow.
Speaking of, the long shadow cast by the jaundiced king will likely lead some readers to expect similar content in this novel, such readers should look later in Chamber’s oeuvre towards works like The Mystery of Choice or The Maker of Moons. Unfortunately Chambers doesn’t linger long in the weird fiction genre, and his arrival in it is seemingly just as abrupt as there is very little of the weird to be found in In The Quarter. For those who enjoy his portrayal of the bohemian, artistic Parisian culture there is still something to be found however, similar to his later stories of the same setting or Zola’s The Masterpiece.
A final note on some other reviewers complaining about the “antisemitism” in the story. The villain is indeed Jewish, but are Jewish people not allowed to be villains? Perhaps it is antisemitic in that he gets a modicum of what he deserves by the story’s close.
In The Quarter is Chambers’ first literary work and unfortunately it shows. While his brilliant prose still occasionally shines through, it’s hard to appreciate when it’s locked within an unfocused and unsatisfying narrative. One gets the distinct feeling Chambers was making it up as he went along. There are random disorienting and poorly marked time skips, characters seemingly having knowledge of events they weren’t present for, and major plot points occurring with very little set up.
On the positive side, its portrayal of l’ecole des beaux arts and the excitement of the artistic culture in late 1800’s Paris is very vivid and full of life—Chambers the artist was clearly writing what he knew. Unfortunately this backdrop is swapped out for practically the entire latter half of the book in favor of a hunting expedition to the forests Bavaria, leaving behind the protagonist’s set of artistic friends for a new cast of characters that come practically out of nowhere, and are just as unceremoniously dropped when the author has to wrap up the final brief chapters of the story back in Paris. There are great scenes of camaraderie amongst the artists (while they last), and it’s fun to see these Latin Quarter characters in their first outing, as Chambers returns to them a number of time in his later stories—including the last set of tales in the King In Yellow.
Speaking of, the long shadow cast by the jaundiced king will likely lead some readers to expect similar content in this novel, such readers should look later in Chamber’s oeuvre towards works like The Mystery of Choice or The Maker of Moons. Unfortunately Chambers doesn’t linger long in the weird fiction genre, and his arrival in it is seemingly just as abrupt as there is very little of the weird to be found in In The Quarter. For those who enjoy his portrayal of the bohemian, artistic Parisian culture there is still something to be found however, similar to his later stories of the same setting or Zola’s The Masterpiece.
A final note on some other reviewers complaining about the “antisemitism” in the story. The villain is indeed Jewish, but are Jewish people not allowed to be villains? Perhaps it is antisemitic in that he gets a modicum of what he deserves by the story’s close.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 18, 2017
I typically put no stock in book reviews written by people who didn't read the entire book. Feel free to extend the same condition to yours truly but I tried...honestly I tried. I told myself I'd finish In The Quarter, as is my habit, before embarking upon another major work. The first few chapters were slow but seemed as if they might be leading up to something. I was reading from Delphi's Complete Weird Fiction of Robert W. Chambers but there didn't seem to be anything of what I'd classify as "weird fiction" in the novel. Nevertheless I pressed on. I think I made it to Chapter 15...there were only three more chapters left. I could have bulldozed my way through them but by that time it had become such a chore attempting to elicit an ounce of empathy for any of the underdeveloped characters that I couldn't bear the thought of continuing. There didn't seem to be any perceivable plot line, only a string of uninteresting situations tied together by...I don't know what. There were moments when plodding through the latter chapters of this book (up to the one I ended with) was such a dreary exercise that I almost forgot the reasons I love to read. Other reviewers have mentioned an anti-Semitic slant...I didn't notice that so it must have reared it's ugly head in the last three chapters I did not read so maybe it's all for the best that I put it down when I did. I'll not give up on Chambers, as this was the first I'd read from him. It was probably my mistake to pick up reading him with his first novel. Soon enough I'll make a go of The King in Yellow, his acknowledged classic, and who knows, I might become a fan. In the Quarter, however, bored me to tears.
January 25, 2020
"'What do I care for the house full of strange faces? I will make them all rise up and shout my name.'"
February 24, 2015
First half of this was great. Then I think an editor told him to write some sport/fishing/hunting type story to capture the Hemingway wave, so this book swerves from the Latin Quarter in Paris to a hunting/fishing story in some other European backdrop. A real disappointment. But I like his style in the first part and it makes me want to read more of his books.
November 1, 2015
Rather pointless story of a young American art student studying in Paris, who has an affair with a French singer and comes to a bad end through no particular fault of his own.
It's quite gratuitously antisemitic, too, even for the times.
It's quite gratuitously antisemitic, too, even for the times.
July 2, 2014
I enjoyed it. There is some anti-Semitic stuff in it that I disliked but otherwise an enjoyable yarn.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews