The King in Yellow

by Robert W. Chambers, H.P. Lovecraft (Introduction)

"Very genuine, though not without the typical mannered extravagance of the eighteen-nineties, is the strain of horror in the early work of Robert W. Chambers, since renowned for products of a very different quality. The King in Yellow, a series of vaguely connected short stories having as a background a monstrous and suppressed book whose perusal brings fright, madness, and spectral tragedy, really achieves notable heights of cosmic fear in spite of uneven interest and a somewhat trivial and affected cultivation of the Gallic studio atmosphere made popular by Du Maurier's Trilby. The most powerful of its tales, perhaps, is The Yellow Sign, in which is introduced a silent and terrible churchyard watchman with a face like a puffy grave-worm's." -- From the Introduction by H.P. Lovecraft.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Short Stories, Classics, Fantasy, Weird Fiction, Gothic

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1895

About the author

Robert 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.

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ

5 Stars for the wonderful opening story "The Repairer of Reputations".

although i wonder if 'wonderful' is the correct word. after all, this is a story that opens with a bizarre, sometimes dire alterna-history leading up to a 1920s America where on-lookers gather to contemplate terminally dispirited disportment within suicide-abetting "Lethal Chambers." and after this bit of surprising strangeness, the reader is plunged right into the mind of a classic Unreliable Narrator (the poor lad struck his head after a fall from a horse and was never quite the same again), complete with insanely grandiose ambitions and malicious thoughts of revenge and devious yet doltish plans for his enemies - who are everywhere, simply everywhere! with the added bonuses of various books of ill repute, some surreal shenanigans starring a peculiarly malevolent cat, and the creepy Repairer himself. all in all, it is a bracing and imaginative bit of darkness on the page. and, to me at least, quite wonderful. the style is so breezy, the pacing so brisk, the imagination so fertile and so oddly modern, the experience was pure pleasure. it is hard to believe that this story was written over a 100 years ago.

i also enjoyed the three tales of weird horror that followed, chock-full of dread and formless despair. good stories. interesting and off-kilter and pleasingly sinister. the big take-away is the idea of a monstrous play ("The King in Yellow") that horribly impacts anyone who dares read it, and which is a key element in each of the first four stories.

here's an excerpt from said monstrous play (please don't kill yourself or anyone else after reading):

Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.
Stranger: Indeed?
Cassilda: Indeed it's time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
Stranger: I wear no mask.
Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!

hey, take a look at this cover for an edition i wish i owned:



if you are at all familiar with this author or classic Weird Fiction in general, then you know the drill. those first four stories (along with Ambrose Bierce's "An Inhabitant of Carcosa") set the template for much Weird Fiction to come, from H.P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith to Karl Edward Wagner and beyond. the names, the places, the idea of fell books of unhealthy influence, creeping dread, hysterical romanticism, humans viewed as repulsive insects... this story-cycle's place at the beginning of it all is well-known.

it is also a well-known disappointment. only those first four could be classified as Weird Fiction. a fifth, "The Demoiselle d'Ys", is an elegant, wispy ghost story/romance - and is also quite traditional. following that is "The Prophet's Paradise" - a collection of bits of ambiguous prose poetry, or impenetrable fable, or snatches from a larger tapestry never completed, or something.

the remaining four tales (each fancifully titled after certain streets) have barely a whiff of horror about them and so have met a chilly reception over the years from Weird Fiction enthusiasts. they are all about living the lifestyle of a bohemian art student abroad in bohemian Paris' bohemian Latin Quarter. think Trilby minus Svengali. they are about romance, art, naive americans, lack of money, enticing but sometimes tragic whores, some bloodshed (at least in one story), a sad and lonely ending (in another story), some unbearable lightness of being... what it feels like to be young and artistic and ready to enjoy life in a bustling and sometimes violent big city. these stories were slim, rather quaint, rather witty, and quite vibrant. i particularly enjoyed "The Street of the First Shell", which plunges the reader into a you-are-there-now account of the milieu itself and then what it feels like to suddenly find yourself in the middle of a bloody, confusing battle full of heretofore-unexperienced chaos, terror, and death.

overall this is an unusual and surprisingly quirky collection of stories. all of them were interesting and a couple really sang.

[K.J. Charles]

Tremendous first half with the sinister Carcosa tales, and the "King in Yellow", a bestseller that drives everyone who reads it mad. Cracking stuff.

Second half is a skippable series of stories of very dull "we want to be decadent Europeans but we're actually irredeemable puritans at heart who are terrified of women having sex" American art students in fin de siecle Paris.

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

As all those addicted to weird tales have known for years, The King in Yellow is one of the seminal books of modern horror fiction. It inspires, and continues to inspire. It prompted H.P. Lovecraft to create the Cthulhu mythos almost ninety years ago, and a mere five years ago it became a major reference point for HBO’s superb first season of True Detective.

Chambers conception is simple but powerful: what if there were a literary work which could—at a specific point in the perusal of the text—drive each of its readers insane? Chambers called this work –a play to be precise—The King in Yellow. Although its first act seems harmless enough . . . everyone who begins reading the second act goes hopelessly, irrevocably mad. Chambers influential idea was to write four otherwise unrelated stories of madness and the occult and then—almost casually, parenthetically—mention The King in Yellow and a few startling image from it in every one. Each of these well-crafted stories would have delivered a thrill or two on its own, but—once the mention of this sinister plays had been added—the overall effect of the four tales taken together was chilling. (Clearly, Lovecraft learned from Chambers, using The Necronomicon and the mythos itself in much the same fashion.

Chambers published these four stories in a collection called The King in Yellow in 1895, but, as they were not quite enough by themselves to comprise a substantial collection, he added six others tales, a few of which were bohemian romance tales without even a touch of the occult, and none of which mentioned The Yellow King at all. This was a mistake, for the additional stories dissipated the extraordinary effect of the four “King in Yellow” tales taken together.

Pushkin Press has now made things right, by including only those four original tales in a small attractive book of only 154 pages. If you have the time, read it in one sitting, or at least during a couple of sittings on one long winter night. You may find that The King in Yellow touches you with his madness too:

I raised my seared eyes to the fathomless glare, and I saw the black stars hanging in the heavens: and the wet winds from the lake of Hali chilled my face.

And now, far away, over the leagues of tossing cloud-waves, I saw the moon dripping with spray; and beyond, the towers of Carcosa rose behind the moon.

. . . And now I heard the voice, rising, swelling, thunder through the blaring light, and as I fell, the radiance increasing, increasing, poured over me in waves of flame . . . I head the King in Yellow whispering to my soul: “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!”

[Eloy Cryptkeeper · Rating 5 out of 5]

" Esto es lo que me perturba, porque no puedo olvidar Carcosa, donde estrellas negras flotan en los cielos; donde las sombras de los pensamientos de los hombres se alargan al atardecer, cuando los soles gemelos se hunden en el lago Hali, y mi mente sufrirá para siempre el recuerdo de la Máscara Pálida. Ruego a Dios que maldiga al escritor, así como el escritor ha maldecido al mundo con esta bella y magnífica creación, terrible en su simplicidad, irresistible en su verdad… un mundo que ahora se tambalea ante el Rey de Amarillo"

"...También soñé con el Rey de Amarillo, envuelto en los fantásticos colores de su andrajoso manto...Luché febrilmente por apartarlo de mí, pero contemple el lago de Hali, de aguas claras e inertes, sin una sola onda o viento que lo agitase, y vi las torres de Carcosa tras la luna. Aldebaran, el Hades, Alar, Hastur, se deslizaban por entre las fisuras de las nubes que se agitaban y ondeaban al pasar como los festoneados andrajos del Rey de Amarillo"

Originalmente los relatos que componen el ciclo son 'El reparador de reputaciones (The Repairer of Reputations),La máscara (The Mask), En la corte del dragón (In the Court of the Dragon),El signo amarillo (The Yellow Sign) y *La doncella de Ys (The Demoiselle d'Ys)*Apenas una vaga relación con el ciclo
Todos los relatos, tienen en común su relación con uno de los libros Apócrifos y malditos por excelencia"El Rey De Amarillo". Libro que no es el típico Grimorio Maldito, que contiene encantamientos, tratados, pactos. Es una obra de teatro de la que sabemos poco y nada, apenas se citan y nos desvelan unos pocos párrafos.
Libro que tiene injerencia sobre la mente, la voluntad y el entorno de quien lo lee.
Y a su vez estas historias tienen en común la presencia de este ominoso y poderoso ser, que se mueve entre universos, realidades. Y que También se lo conoce como "El Rey de amarillo"
Sabemos que la obra surge, toma personajes,lugares y detallesa partir del relato de Ambrose Bierce " El habitante de Carcosa"...
Pero La realidad es que poco sabemos sobre este monarca, sobre Hastur y sobre El hombre de la máscara pálida. ¿Que son en realidad? ¿Son Avatares del mismo ser? ¿Quien rige sobre quien?. Poco sabemos sobre Carcosa ¿Es un universo paralelo?¿Forma parte de otro planeta? ¿Es el inframundo, quizá el Purgatorio? . ¿El signo de amarillo es meramente un Talismán o un objeto maldito?. ¿O es una llave? ¿en ese caso.. la llave de que ? ¿A donde conduce?.
Todo este misticismo, hermetismo, lo sutil y el juego con la percepción acrecentán enormemente la obra y la elevan a la categoría de mito.
No es casualidad el uso conceptual del color amarillo. Color que en el teatro representa mala suerte, mal augurio. Representa el poder. Y color, que en su variante pálida, representa el deterioro, la locura, la enfermedad. Se lo asocia con infecciones, ciertas plagas y epidemias. Y por defecto, con la muerte.
A través de la obra, otro elemento que esta presente, es el arte, en sus diferentes expresiones. El teatro, la pintura, la escultura, la música. Supongo que esto se debe a la formación artística del autor. Que inclusive, antes de ser escritor, se desempeñaba como dibujante. Y también la Bohemia propia de ese ambiente
Por estos días, y bajo una mirada superficial, puede resultar poco inquietante. Mas relacionado a lo fantástico, incluso al romanticismo, que al propio horror. Pero tiene una única y peculiar forma de sugestionar, evocar y meterse en la piel.
Ademas de todas las características innovadoras a traves de los relatos, inclusive distópicas y experimentales en "El Reparador De Reputaciones". No se puede pasar por alto lo tremendamente influyente y expansivo de la obra. De manera mas directa o indirecta. La evidente...la influencia en Lovecraft y su "séquito". A la hora de gestar su propio Grimorio maldito "El Necronomicón". Al plantar la semilla "cósmica". y el hecho, de luego, expandir ayornar y enaltecer la propia obra de Chambers.
Me atrevo a decir que también influencio a Umberto Eco a la hora de escribir 'El Nombre de la rosa" y a Stephen King, en la creación de su "Rey Carmesí".
Por fuera de la literatura, el ejemplo mas evidente y directo es: True Detective(toda la alucinante primera temporada). También, en alguna otra serie o película, que se me viene a la mente como: La Novena puerta(basada a su vez en un libro), El Mas Aya, Cigarrete Burns.


" Oh, el pecado de escribir semejantes palabras… palabras que son diáfanas como el cristal, transparentes y musicales como manantiales burbujeantes, ¡palabras que destellan y resplandecen como los envenenados diamantes de los Médicis! Oh, la perversidad, la condena sin esperanza de un alma capaz de fascinar y paralizar a criaturas humanas con tales palabras, palabras comprendidas tanto por el ignorante como por el sabio, palabras más preciosas que joyas, más reconfortantes que música celestial, más terribles que la propia muerte"

"La muerte y la terrible morada de las almas perdidas, donde mi debilidad hacía tiempo que lo había desterrado, lo transformaron ante cualquier otra mirada, pero no ante la mía. Y ahora escuché su voz, elevándose, aumentando, tronando entre la deslumbrante luz, y mientras caía, el resplandor aumentaba más y más, y se derramaba sobre mí en oleadas de fuego. Entonces me hundí en las profundidades, y oí al Rey de Amarillo susurrando a mi alma:
- ¡Es terrible caer en las manos del Dios vivo!"

[Amy (Other Amy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.

Cassilda's Song in "The King in Yellow," Act I, Scene 2

(I probably shouldn't open a review with lines from a play that has such ill effects on people, but the excerpts from the play were my favorite parts.)

I have done homework for this review, which I now share with you: In about 1887, Gustave Nadaud writes a poem called "Carcassonne" (available online here) about a man dying before he sets eyes on the city of his heart's desire. This inspires Lord Dunsany to write a short story of the same name (included in A Dreamer's Tales), William Faulkner to write a short story of the same name (available in These Thirteen), and, apparently, Ambrose Bierce to write a short story called "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" (available in Can Such Things Be?).

Bierce's story in turn inspires Robert W. Chambers to write a collection of short stories called A King in Yellow (a review of which you are now reading), in which the first four interlocking stories follow the repercussions of a fictional play also called A King in Yellow set in the theoretically still fictional Carcosa. Which in turn inspired H.P. Lovecraft to do something I haven't finished researching yet. Which has apparently spawned a whole cottage industry of books about the king in yellow and Carcosa (just judging by what I'm seeing on Amazon, here). So this is a literary iceberg we're standing on.

The Repairer of Reputations
The first story stars a Mr. Hildred Castaigne, convalescing from a concussion, poor man. The story shines in the first part for the sheer 'what on earth am I reading?' reaction it provokes, but half that reaction comes from the fact that the book was written in 1895 and describes a utopia (complete with a nasty little bit of racism) imagined in 1920. The other half comes from Mr. Castaigne, who is really not a very trustworthy gentleman.
The Mask
The second story stars a character mentioned briefly in the first story, Boris Yvain, and narrator Alec. I think of this one as a retelling of the story of King Midas. I rather enjoyed this one.
In the Court of the Dragon
This one stars an unnamed narrator and only names a Monseigneur C____. It is therefore difficult to say the exact links, but I have my suspicions.
The Yellow Sign
The fourth story stars Jack Scott (from the second story), an organist who may or may not be from the third story, as well as quite possibly the narrator of the third story, and references the events of the first story. This is the most horrific story of the quartet.
The Demoiselle D'ys
Starring Philip and Jean D'ys. No links to other stories, but a pretty tragedy.
The Prophets' Paradise
A little bit of experimental fiction that didn't really work for me, although the words were strung together nicely enough; it might be better understood as poetry.
The Street of the Four Winds
The last four stories also form a quartet, but they have nothing to do with Carcosa or the horror genre. This first of the four stars Severn and Sylvia Elven. I kind of this one, because Severn is the kind of man who will feed a hungry cat better than he feeds himself.
The Street of the First Shell
This one also has a Sylvia, and a Jack Trent? Annoyed. Long war story. Skipped.
The Street of Our Lady of the Fields
Americans studying in Paris. Romance. Officially bored now. Barely skimmed.
Rue Barree
Same Americans (different set), still a romance. Skimmed.

Overall, this was really a 2.5 for me (as a 200 page book that took me over a week to read). But I'm glad I read it for the sake of all the allusions I'm sure I've been missing and will now be able to understand. So it's got that going for it. And looking back I really did like the first four stories and a couple of the later ones, for all that the book was a slog. Rounding up.

Reviewed 10/18/15

[Wreade1872 · Rating 2 out of 5]

No... nope, does not work. I tried i really did and i can see why people like these tales but i seriously believe they're judging them more on potential than actuality.

Look the writing isn't bad, Chambers has a decent ability to paint a scene and his characters are actually quite good, as are his ideas.

However there is not a single completely satisfying story in the bunch. Its quite remarkable but everyone of them has some sort of crippling tonal inconsistency or plot incoherency. At times it feels like your reading something in translation.

The best tales are actually the ones near the end of the collection and those are just parisian love stories. They're the best simply because they have the least defects but they're not particularly compelling especially if your expecting weird fiction.

Then there is the 'King in Yellow' motif itself, another good thing wasted. The idea being that the collection would be held together by each story referencing a fictional play called the 'King in Yellow'. In reality only about a 3rd of the stories make any reference to it which is just aswell because it NEVER works!
The fragments of the 'King in Yellow' are too different to any of the tales to be anything but another problem, but its also never used as a contrast to the main text so its worthless. It never adds to the text, its effect is always neutral or detrimental and most of the time feels forced into the plots as an afterthought.

Disappointing.

[Jean-marcel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can art drive a person insane? Could there be a book, or a film, or a piece of music that vibrates against the cortext in a certain way, or opens great gulfs of revelation so profound and so shattering that you could never be exposed to it without being changed forever? If the truth of such a piece got out, wouldn't anyone and everyone want to be exposed to it, scoffing and thinking that they, above all else, would be well equipped to handle any dangers, and yet feeling inescapably drawn to find out just what it is that makes such a thing work so potently on the human psyche?

Of course, these vistas, this mind-altering vibration, could never, ever be described. They could only be experienced. And having had the experience, you would have to dissemanate it to others. You wouldn't even have to try. If you had the presence of mind to warn your friends against it, even that warning would plant the seed of gnosis, and before you could say "Tears shall dry and die in dim Carcosa", they would be turning those mouldering pages, their eyes soon wide, staring into nothingness, but seeing....what?

It's the idea of the King in Yellow that's so powerful and sticks with you long after you've finished Robert Chambers's odes to the play that nobody's ever read and remained untouched. Throughout the first four stories of this book, you'll get tantalising glimpses of the first act of the play, which is apparently harmless. The second act is what shakes everyone to their very foundation, and Chambers wisely does not give us a taste, for anything he could say would pale in comparison to what we might imagine, even if that imagining is but the faintest dark inkling.

The first story in this series, "The Repairer of Reputations", is one of my favourite short stories, rivalling, I think, the best of Poe and many other writers. It's strange and electrifying; set in New York of 1920 (twenty-five years after this book was written), and the future depicted is very odd indeed. The USA seems to have become a fascist state, and the tale begins on the eve of the opening of the first Suicide Chamber, little gas chambers to be set up all over the country where people will be permitted to cleanly destroy themselves if life becomes too difficult for them. In just a few pages, Chambers paints a sharp and eloquent picture of this altered, would-be-future new York, and it is here, among the clean streets and pristine boulevards, that our narrator resides. He's just recovered from an injury (falling from his horse, he says), and during his convalescence had little better to do than to read the now infamous The King in Yellow. He believes he's made a sterling recovery, but his friends are convinced that he's not a well man. Throughout the story he rails against comrades and family, secretly plotting to undermine the order of things with the mysterious and bizarrely freakish Mr. Wilde. Their "Reputation Repair" service is designed to make them a good deal of money...but to what end? Well, you simply have to read the story to find out. Then read it again to pick up on the little details you might have missed the first time. It's really good stuff; definitely an unsung classic of the highest order.

The next few stories also deal with the play The King in Yellow in one way or another. "The Mask" is my second favourite tale, and its romantic and tragic and haunting, and set around the time when the play first emerged into the world. You may need to read the ending twice to realise what is going on. Just remember that anyone who has claimed to have read the play has perceptions that should not wholly be trusted.

While I don't think Chambers ever manages to equal the glory of the first two tales, he does come pretty close at times. "The Court of the Dragon" is a short little piece with some extremely evocative writing. "The Yellow Sign" is a little more of a standard horror, but it still makes sense in the context of the play and the maddening effects it has apparently had on the world.

From this point, things move into other territory as the concept of the play is abandoned and we get stories of mysterious love, possible time travel, war-torn France and even a very short and effective ghost story. The last of these is "The Street of the Four Winds", and it's really very good. The image of the young artist taking in this cat and trying to find out where it belongs is evoked so well that I found the story imprinted forever in my memory.

This book has had a quiet, profound influence on many things, I feel. The most obvious would be H. P. Lovecraft and his Necronomicon, but the idea of books that rend the mind is a potent one that's burrowed into the literary conscious and has even showed up in a number of movies, too. One might even say that something like Borges's "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" is a perfect extension and elucidation of this very idea. In a way reading The King in Yellow makes me sad, because it seems that Chambers, upon receiving some literary success, became rather neutered and churned out a lot of average schlock that's of little consequence, even if perhaps fun to read. If nothing else (and it is many things), The King in Yellow is proof that the best work is produced in times when there can be no room for complacency and no substitute for the fire of strange passions, and and that the contentment of a fine house and back-patting acolaides are seldom the elements that conspire to create great works.

[Darren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe 3.5

A bit of a mixed bag. The first 5 short stories were really good but I struggled to finish the last few.

[Gabrielle (Reading Rampage) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having been a huge fan of weird fiction and cosmic horror for years, it was more than time for me to sit down with the infamous “King in Yellow”, by Robert W. Chambers. This book is considered quite seminal for the genre, overshadowing nearly everything else the author has written in his life, and I was starting to feel like this was a significant empty space on my shelves.

Even knowing the book’s significance and reputation, I was not quite ready for what I encountered when I cracked I open. Unreliable narrators, tales of madness and despair, alternate history, sinister atmospheres, creepy characters lurking around every page… I knew I would get all that, but I didn’t expect the ride to be this good! The book is composed of a few short stories connected by a cursed play titled “The King in Yellow”, which is said to have been banned due to it’s common side-effect of driving people who read it insane. The narrators who have read it are very clearly off their rocker, and the first four stories become increasingly surreal as they go along, which makes the book hard to put away. The other stories are more romantic, which was Chambers’ main style, and they are also quite enjoyable, though very different in tone from the first four.

The story “The Repairer of Reputation” was deliciously strange, with its eerie predictions about America and “Lethal Chambers”. I get the sense that Chambers was not really an optimist, given his bleak speculations. "The Mask" is quite a haunting little horror tale, and I loved the way he makes Paris seem terribly creepy and haunted, which is not a typical way of viewing the City of Lights!

The little breadcrumbs of the titular play scattered through the stories are fascinating, and I am not surprised that this book remains an important and influential work in the genre, with references to the King in Yellow and Carcosa to be found in numerous works paying homage to Chambers. But I think everyone who enjoys the genre will take pleasure in reading these stories. The first four are the obvious gems, but the rest of the collection is worth reading if you enjoy (like me!) pretty much anything set in fin-de-siècle Paris.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

This edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow collects four of the original ten stories, omitting those standalone tales that don’t have anything to do with the King in Yellow “storyline” (for want of a better word). So the four left - The Repairer of Reputations, The Mask, In the Court of the Dragon, The Yellow Sign - form a kind of linked narrative here.

I’ve known about this book for a while as I’ve read HP Lovecraft before and know he was a big fan of this book and it was referenced throughout the excellent first season of True Detective. I read the INJ Culbard comics adaptation of this book a few years ago though and didn’t think much of it, so I wasn’t expecting much from this one - and, yup, it’s not that good!

The Repairer of Reputations is definitely the standout of the four as parts of it are interesting once you realise the narrator is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, while the other three stories are just plain crap through and through. Told from the perspective of a mental patient called Castaigne, he visits a strange fellow called Mr Wilde who somehow “repairs” people’s damaged reputations. Both are completely mad and are obsessed with a cursed play called The King in Yellow - things don’t end well for either!

A sculptor mentioned in the first story is one of the main characters of the second story, The Mask. Boris Yvain, a Parisian sculptor, has discovered a new method of creating sculptures: dipping the live object into a special liquid thus turning them into a piece of living/dead art! But when the play, The King in Yellow, appears in their lives, things take a turn for the worse…

In the Court of the Dragon is about a man who has been reading the cursed play and believes a church organist is after his soul - or is it the King himself?

The Yellow Sign is about a painter and his model who get creeped out by a weird dude who stalks them, muttering about the yellow sign, and then they have strange dreams. The painter also happens to have The King in Yellow on his bookshelf.

Chambers’ writing style is overly descriptive and plodding, providing a lot of extraneous detail and little in the way of story. What would’ve been far more satisfying is if he’d explained a bit more of what this King in Yellow stuff is!! What is the play about? What makes it cursed and/or so terrible? What is the significance of these words that repeatedly crop up: Carcosa, Hastur, Aldebaran, Hyades??

We’re given little details here and there - the unnamed author supposedly shot himself after writing it, though others believe he’s still alive - but it’s not enough. I get that leaving it up to the reader’s imagination is artistic, but it can also be lazy and unimaginative on the part of the writer, which is the case here. It’s underwritten and unimpressive.

We should know who wrote the play and something of its contents at the very least. Leaving it as vague as this doesn’t make it more scary, it only makes it inscrutable. Even though the stories are tenuously linked, the connections are pointless, add nothing to one another or to a better understanding of what this King in Yellow thing is.

Which is only more frustrating because it all sounds tantalisingly good. A cursed play that drives people mad, a demonic King in Yellow with cultish followers on Earth, undead, magic, soul-taking - good, no? If only Chambers had had the wherewithal to develop it.

The world he set it in is another curious detail. The book was published in 1895 but it’s set in 1920 so it’s sci-fi-ish, and, oddly it’s a world where actual suicide booths, called “lethal chambers”, have been built and sanctioned by the government! What a bonkers detail to highlight. I guess it adds to the unreality of the piece.

I can see why Lovecraft liked Chambers so much though. They both wrote very flowery prose about vague menacing things, often in an unentertaining and boring way, they both write about a mad author creating a cursed literary work (Lovecraft’s is Alhazred’s Necronomicon), and The Yellow Sign even ends in the classic Lovecraftian mid-sentence way of his st…

If you’re curious enough to read Chambers’ King in Yellow, this is probably the best edition as it cuts the chaff and only leaves you with the linked chaff (because I’m certain none of it is good). Parts of the first story are mildly interesting and the details that crop up throughout offer up an idea of something potentially great that Chambers never realised but at least inspired others to create better works later on down the line, like Lovecraft, etc. Overall though it ain’t much and I wouldn’t have high hopes if you’re going to check out this rather feeble horror-adjacent effort.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

While perhaps not as popular as Edgar Allan Poe or Ambrose Bierce—-two of his literary contemporaries—-Robert W. Chambers is among the more influential 19th-century writers that helped to shape modern horror fiction. His book of short stories, “The King in Yellow”, published in 1895, is still considered to be one of the best exemplars of “weird” fiction, the progenitor of modern horror and the template for the “New Weird” genre.

Chambers experienced an uptick in popularity in the last few years due to the first season of the HBO TV show “True Detective”, in which the titular story, “The King in Yellow” played an important role in the plot. There was, thanks to the show, a resurgence in sales for the almost 130-year-old book.

In 2017, Pushkin Press published a beautiful edition of Chambers’s classic book. Be aware, though, that this edition only includes the first four stories of the original ten-story collection.

This was a conscious choice, due to the fact that the remaining six stories of the collection had very little, thematically, with the first four. It is the first four stories that act as an interconnected whole, almost like a short novella in four parts.

The first story, “The Repairer of Reputations”, sets the scene: a futuristic New York City of 1920 (keep in mind the book’s publication date of 1895), where the United States is recovering from a major war against Germany. And, yes, it is hair-raisingly creepy how prescient Chambers was about this.

The U.S. of this extrapolated 1920 is experiencing a period of immense post-war wealth and prosperity. Cities have exploded in size and population due to great technological advances. (Again, it’s damn frightening how accurate Chambers was with his predictions.) There is one disturbingly horrifying caveat to this seemingly utopian world: suicides have inexplicably risen to the point that the U.S. government has not only legalized euthanasia but has set up, around the country, buildings called Lethal Chambers where people can go to painlessly shuffle off their mortal coils.

If, like me, you are suddenly thinking, What the f…?, that’s merely the beginning of the unending weirdness.

Within each story, reference is made to a recent play entitled “The King in Yellow”, which has been banned from bookstores and libraries owing to its inexplicable capacity to drive readers literally insane and/or suicidal. Very little is revealed about the play’s contents, although what is revealed is that the so-called King in Yellow is a demonic presence that rules over a dead kingdom called Carcosa. It is the second act of the play that drives people crazy. Suffice it to say, very few people know what happens in Act Two.

I can’t in good conscious say much more about each story for fear of letting spoilers slip except that each one gets progressively more surreal and horrifying, and the banned play is always lurking about in the background as either a direct or indirect cause of the story’s events.

There is a dream-like quality to these stories which adds to both their beauty and horror. It is quite clear to see its influence on “New Weird” writers such as Paul Tremblay, Laird Barron, and Jeff VanderMeer.

It should also come as no surprise that H.P. Lovecraft once called “The King in Yellow” “one of the greatest weird tales ever written”.

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that was different.

I mean, both different from other books and different from what I expected.

"The King in Yellow" is a fictional book that the characters in various stories read. We readers of Chambers' book get only the barest glimpses of what what is about -- Hali, Hypnos, terrible secrets -- no plot or quotes or even much hint as to who the character of the King might be. All we know is that everyone who reads it becomes mentally disturbed in some way, or something terrible happens to them.

It was a little frustrating in that I wanted more, but I can see why Lovecraft and the Mythos folks liked this so much.

I'd been wanting to read this for a while and appreciate Pushkin putting out such a high-quality edition.

[Ends of the Word · Rating 4 out of 5]

The term "weird fiction" could have been coined to describe “The King in Yellow”. First published in 1895, and recently reissued in a deluxe "gift edition” by Pushkin Press, it features elements of horror and the supernatural and even a touch of science fiction and yet fits uncomfortably under any of these categories. It is frankly, just plain “weird”.

The book consists of four short stories which are linked by some common characters and, more importantly, by a recurring leitmotiv, a mysterious play called “The King in Yellow”. This play is, purportedly, a work of such evil genius that whoever reads its second act descends into madness and despair. Chambers uses a technique which would later greatly inspire H.P. Lovecraft (he applies it to great effect in his Cthulhu stories) – we are never actually told what the play is all about, the narrators in each story merely make vague references to its contents, leaving us to surmise what evil horrors this banned work might hold within its pages.

The first story – “The Repairer of Reputations” – is set (like the fourth) in an imagined future America of the 1920s and sets the macabre tone of the work. It is narrated by a young man just out of a mental institution, who has delusions about ruling America in allegiance with the powerful “King in Yellow”. This story recalls Poe in its portrayal of obsession and madness, leading to a bloody denouement. The second tale, "The Mask", is a sort of “Pygmalion” in reverse. Set in France, it tells of a sculptor who discovers a chemical solution which can turn live beings into statues. This story introduces a new ingredient to the mix – the bohemian milieu beloved of fin-de-siecle, decadent literature. It is not uncommon in such works to encounter a fascination with the Catholic faith, or at least, its cultural trappings. This is the case with “In the Court of the Dragon”, in which the protagonist seems to be pursued by a demonic church organist. This sinister predator is likely just a tired musician escaping to the loo during a longish sermon, but to the narrator, fresh from reading that abominable play, he comes across as a malign figure sent by the King in Yellow to claim his soul. “The Yellow Sign” takes us back to 1920s America, but we are again in a world of artists and their models. There is also the presence of a Catholic church, such that at first, the atmosphere is not far removed from that of the previous story. This time round, however, the haunting is not done by an organist but by a “worm-like” churchyard watchman who, it seems, is possessed by the King in Yellow and is after the Yellow Sign, a curious gold clasp found by the narrator’s model.

Chambers’ short story collection originally contained six other stories, but it is only the first four which are linked by the “King of Yellow” theme. So it makes sense for this edition to be limited to these four tales which, partly thanks to Lovecraft, have achieved cult status amongst lovers of weird fiction.

For a full review, including a choice of related musical works, visit:

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/20...

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've only recently discovered this whole King in Yellow mythos and learned of its profound influence on Lovecraft and others in the genre. The four stories here make up the core of this mythos, each featuring a narrator who is unreliable to say the least, having been struck with delusions and intense paranoia after reading the notorious second act of The King in Yellow. They are haunting and intensely disturbing, comprised of essentially first hand accounts of the insidious and maddening effects of being exposed to the material in question, more so than the specifics of what, or who, that content may actually be. Yet there are some chilling hints of cosmic horrors that lurk just beneath the veneer of reality... so maybe the narrators are not so unreliable or paranoid after all.

[Jadranka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Čejmbersova zbirka priča "Kralj u žutom" doživela je drugu mladost zbog emitovanja popularne HBO serije "True Detective". Seriju sam pratila, ali ne mogu da kažem da li je bolja serija ili knjiga, pre svega jer je reč o potpuno različitim proizvodima, a drugo jer se ne može reći da je serija ekranizacija Čejmbersovih priča i ideja, već pre da je poslužila možda kao inspiracija scenaristi serije koji je od Čejmbersa "pozajmio" par motiva.
Zbirku "Kralj u žutom" čini 10 priča, i kao i na većinu drugih čitalaca i na mene su daleko veći utisak ostavile priče sa početka zbirke koje odišu tom lavkraftovskom atmosferom strave i užasa. Među njima posebno izdvajam prvu priču "Majstor za reputacije" u okvire koje je poseban utisak na mene ostavila Smrtonosna dvorana - državna ustanova u kojoj "bezbolna smrt čeka onoga koji više ne može da podnese tuge ovog života."
Osim ove, još bih izdvojila priče "U Zmajevom sokaku" i "Žuti znak".
Zapravo centralni motiv ovih priča jeste drama u dva čina pod imenom Kralj u žutom, koja na čitaoce destruktivno utiče, uništavajući im zdrav razum zbog čega je praktično i zabranjena u tom zamišljenom Čejmbersovom svetu.
Sa druge strane, kroz priče sa kraja zbirke autor prenosi atmosferu boemskog života mladih umetnika iz Latinske četvrti u Parizu. Može se reći da nemaju gotovo nikakvih dodirnih tačaka sa pričama sa početka, mada na momente i kroz njih provejava dah nekog nespokojstva ili uznemirenosti, ali dalje od toga autor ne ide. Međutim, daleko od toga da su ove priče loše ili nezanimljive. Ovde bih istakla kao najzanimljiviju priču "Ulica prve granate".
Kao zaključak mogu da istaknem da su prvih pet priča pravo malo remek-delo natprirodne književnosti, i da će sigurno svi koji vole Lavkrafta uživati i u ovim pričama; a da je druga polovina zbirke jednostavno različita i drugačija, pa na čitaoca ostavlja slabiji utisak.
I na kraju, jednostavno moram da uputim posebne pohvale uz standing ovation na račun ekipe iz Kluba knjige i umetnosti Gavran iz Smedereva. Ovi mladi ljudi su se odvažili na veoma hrabar i smeo poduhvat, a to je da se srpskoj čitalačkoj publici predstave jednim ovakvim prvencem. Prevod je besprekoran, prelom teksta na najvišem nivou, a na samom kraju zbirke je i odlična i veoma poučna recenzija Dejana Ognjanovića, autora romana "Naživo" i "Zavodnik".

Ocena:4*

[P.E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otherworldly as far as the first four fantastical stories go, then eerily realistic.

You never saw such a blend of vividness in settings and sharp foreboding as in The Repairer of Reputations, The Mask, the Court of the Dragon and The Yellow Sign!

As to the other half of the book, you may enjoy The Demoiselle d'Ys and The Street of the First Shell, enjoy them hugely even, if you're into magical realism and impressionnistic accounts of wars (the likes of Ambrose Bierce's or Celine's).


Civil War Stories - Ambrose Bierce

Rigadoon - Céline


What amazed me the more was how France came increasingly to the fore, starting from the short story set in mythical Brittany, The Demoiselle d'Ys...

I don't know whether it has been foreseen by R.W. Chambers, but this shifting of gears is an uncommon tricky feature to weld what would be, otherwise, loosely connected halves.

On the whole, tremendously profitable reading!
I recommand it to whoever feels like to dare the thrall of the King in Yellow!


Matching Soundtrack :
Danse Macabre - Camille Saint-Saëns

[Chris_P · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Repairer of Reputations: **
The Mask: ****
In the Court of the Dragon: ***
The Yellow Sign: ***
The Demoiselle D' Ys: ****
The Prophets' Paradise: *****
The Street of the Four Winds: ****
The Street of the First Shell: **
The Street of our Lady of the Fields: **
Rue Barée: ***

3.2

Before Algernon Blackwood, Robert E. Howard, Ray Bradbury, Thomas Ligotti and many more, there was Robert W. Chambers. But the one who was influenced the most by Chambers was H. P. Lovecraft. Some basic ideas from the myth of The King in Yellow were used by Lovecraft almost intact. How the creator of Cthulu managed to maintain his well-known originality is a whole other story.

Chambers uses haunting atmosphere to create cosmic horror and he does it well. Not all his stories focus on horror, though. Therefore, the reader might get distracted from the atmosphere that was built at first, especially with the last three stories. My personal favorites are Demoiselle D' Ys and The Prophets' Paradise with the latter being an excellent example of the surrealistic/absurd literature that would flourish later in the 20th century.

Overall, a pretty interesting collection of stories with its ups and downs.

[صان · Rating 4 out of 5]

این کتاب رو یکی از دوستام به‌دلیل علاقه زیادی که به فصل اول سریال <<ترو دیتکتیو>> داشتم برام خرید.
کسی که اون سریال رو دیده باشه بهتر می‌تونه فضای این مجموعه داستان رو درک کنه.
فضای این کتاب، فضایی هست پر از مالیخولیا و اتفاقات عجیب و تاریک و ساکت و رازآلود. شاید بهترین کلمه برای توصیف‌اش رازآلودی باشه. کششی که رازها برات ایجاد می‌کنن به کمک نثر روون‌اش تورو وارد داستان می‌کنن و باعث می‌شن که فضای مخصوص به خودش رو کامل در کنی.
ترجمه‌اش البته یکم قدیمی بود و دایره لغات مخصوصی داشت که البته با توجه به قدیمی بودن متن اصلی، می‌شه توجیه کرد که مترجم خواسته به شیوه قدیمی و کلمات انگلیسی قدیمی وفادار بمونه.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard book to give a rating.

There are more things that made me wanna stop the book than to continue. But I stand firm and continue my path unfortunally the last two stories were too much for me. I read and skipped several paragraphs at time because it was too damn boring without any purpose or interest. But there are some cool stories.

First of all, if you would like to try reading Robert W Chambers start with the first four short stories/novellas. These are the beginning of Weird Fiction as later Lord Dunsany, HP Lovecraft, William Hope Hodgson, Robert E Howard, Arthur Mchen or Clark Ashton Smith made it so popular.

That's no coincidence that HP Lovecraft used some elements in it's Mythos and he said about Robert Chambers:

"Very genuine, though not without the typical mannered extravagance of the eighteen-nineties, is the strain of horror in the early work of Robert W. Chambers, since renowned for products of a very different quality. The King in Yellow, a series of vaguely connected short stories having as a background a monstrous and suppressed book whose perusal brings fright, madness, and spectral tragedy, really achieves notable heights of cosmic fear in spite of uneven interest and a somewhat trivial and affected cultivation of the Gallic studio atmosphere made popular by Du Maurier’s Trilby. The most powerful of its tales, perhaps, is "The Yellow Sign," in which is introduced a silent and terrible churchyard watchman with a face like a puffy grave-worm's. A boy, describing a tussle he has had with this creature, shivers and sickens as he relates a certain detail. "Well, sir, it's Gawd's truth that when I 'it 'im 'e grabbed me wrists, sir, and when I twisted 'is soft, mushy fist one of 'is fingers come off in me 'and." An artist, who after seeing him has shared with another a strange dream of a nocturnal hearse, is shocked by the voice with which the watchman accosts him. The fellow emits a muttering sound that fills the head like thick oily smoke from a fat-rendering vat or an odour of noisome decay. What he mumbles is merely this: "Have you found the Yellow Sign?"
A weirdly hieroglyphed onyx talisman, picked up in the street by the sharer of his dream, is shortly given the artist; and after stumbling queerly upon the hellish and forbidden book of horrors the two learn, among other hideous things which no sane mortal should know, that this talisman is indeed the nameless Yellow Sign handed down from the accursed cult of Hastur—from primordial Carcosa, whereof the volume treats, and some nightmare memory of which seems to lurk latent and ominous at the back of all men's minds. Soon they hear the rumbling of the black-plumed hearse driven by the flabby and corpse-faced watchman. He enters the night-shrouded house in quest of the Yellow Sign, all bolts and bars rotting at his touch. And when the people rush in, drawn by a scream that no human throat could utter, they find three forms on the floor—two dead and one dying. One of the dead shapes is far gone in decay. It is the churchyard watchman, and the doctor exclaims, "That man must have been dead for months." It is worth observing that the author derives most of the names and allusions connected with his eldritch land of primal memory from the tales of Ambrose Bierce. Other early works of Mr. Chambers displaying the outré and macabre element are The Maker of Moons and In Search of the Unknown. One cannot help regretting that he did not further develop a vein in which he could so easily have become a recognised master."

In my opinion, the four first stories are excelent linked horror stories as Lovecraft said before. The rest are not that interesting nowadays. To me they are boring(with the exception of The Demoiselle d'Ys).

Imagine this to understand what I think of the stories.... A man is walking and finds a woman in a house where he talks with her. As the day/night advances he fell in love with her but it's late he got to get home and promise to return (At least five or six pages of talks/images and such). As he passes a church he talks to a priest and the priest says that there is no-one alive in that house. It existed a family there but they died "insert method of choice". The man frights himself and died. The end. In my experience this is the typical gothic story.

There are similar story arcs in epic fantasy. A boy (usually), orphan, is found by a powerful magician/knight/seer or such and says that he is destiny to save the world/country/woman from a powerful evil, that no-one can defeat. But this boy who had no training in magic/war turns to a warleader/best magician, and fights an undefeated evil lord/magician and lives to tell the tale, unscathed. He and his powerful, beautiful, amazing wife.

Oh well, I am getting sidetracked here.

Review

So, the four stories are linked to a book called The King in Yellow (try imagining Necronomicon). There exists also a powerful evil entity and a terrible Yellow Sign. Two of the stories are in a nearby alternative future America (Circus 1920) and two other stories are set in Paris.

The first story "The Repairer of Reputations" Hildred, our main character in the first tale is one of the first attempts of an unnreliable narrator and as the story progress we get hints that he is delusional and had a broken mind. And this is what interests me, because the plot itself is not important. He thinks that he is the last Heir to the The Imperial Dynasty of America but his cousin is the way.

The main protagonist reads a book called The King In Yellow, which is represented as a universally censored play which deeply disturbs him. This supposedly book makes people going insane and noone can read from end to end. It's legal and exist the Government Lethal Chambers in each city, were people can commit suicide, after reading part of this play.

The second story The Mask is also connected to the first (the damned book and the land of Carcossa) and its straightforward with 10 pages. Maybe Yeovil Genevieve comes from this tale.

In the Court of the Dragon is a fast paced story about a man who has been followed by an church organ player. As he tries to escape through Paris he awakes in the church all began. Suddendly it seems, a dream upon a dream, he awakes in Carcossa dying... "And now I heard his voice, rising, swelling, thundering through the flaring light, and as I fell, the radiance increasing, increasing, poured over me in waves of flame. Then I sank into the depths, and I heard the King in Yellow whispering to my soul: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!"

The Yellow Sign is the last tale and what a tale it is. A tale about a painter and his muse. As the story progress we see the interaction between those two characters and a man by the churchyard that spooks them. As she gives him something she discovers (the Yellow sign) it seems that all come to light...

"I am sure I wished to do so, but Tessie pleaded with me in vain. Night fell and the hours dragged on, but still we murmured to each other of the King and the Pallid Mask, and midnight sounded from the misty spires in the fog-wrapped city. We spoke of Hastur and of Cassilda, while outside the fog rolled against the blank window-panes as the cloud waves roll and break on the shores of Hali. The house was very silent now and not a sound from the misty streets broke the silence. Tessie lay among the cushions, her face a gray blot in the gloom, but her hands were clasped in mine and I knew that she knew and read my thoughts as I read hers, for we had understood the mystery of the Hyades and the Phantom of Truth was laid.Then as we answered each other, swiftly, silently, thought on thought, the shadows stirred in the gloom about us, and far in the distant streets we heard a sound. Nearer and nearer it came, the dull crunching of wheels, nearer, nearer and yet nearer, and now, outside the door it ceased, and I dragged myself to the window and saw a black-plumed hearse. The gate below opened and shut, and I crept shaking to my door and bolted it, but I knew no bolts, no locks, could keep that creature out who was coming for the Yellow Sign. And now I heard him moving very softly along the hall. Now he was at the door, and the bolts rotted at his touch. Now he had entered. With eyes starting from my head I peered into the darkness, but when he came into the room I did not see him. It was only when I felt him envelop me in his cold soft grasp that I cried out and struggled with deadly fury,but my hands were useless and he tore the onyx clasp from my coat and struck me full in the face.Then,as I fell,I heard Tessie's soft cry and her spirit fled to God,and even while falling I longed to follow her,for I knew that the King in Yellow had opened his tattered mantle and there was only Christ to cry. I could tell more, but I cannot see what help it will be to the world. As for me I am past human help or hope. As I lie here, writing, careless even whether or not I die before I finish, I can see the doctor gathering up his powders and phials with a vague gesture to the good priest beside me, which I understand."


Conclusion
The four first stories are worthwhile but the rest are not that good. They are romantic stories with some supernatural/horror elements... IF you can call that horror. Since all these stories are free try reading them for yourselves. If you enjoy weird fiction, lovecraft and the rest of the gang try reading them. As I said, the book "Necronomicon" was based on "King of Yellow" no doubt about it.


Now an excerpt from it...
Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.
Stranger: Indeed?
Cassilda: Indeed it's time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
Stranger: I wear no mask.
Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!

He mentioned the establishment of the Dynasty in Carcosa, the lakes which connected Hastur, Aldebaran and the mystery of the Hyades. He spoke of Cassilda and Camilla, and sounded the cloudy depths of Demhe, and the Lake of Hali. "The scolloped tatters of the King in Yellow must hide Yhtill forever," he muttered, but I do not believe Vance heard him. Then by degrees he led Vance along the ramifications of the Imperial family, to Uoht and Thale, from Naotalba and Phantom of Truth, to Aldones, and then tossing aside his manuscript and notes, he began the wonderful story of the Last King.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask. I pray God will curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world with this beautiful, stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth—a world which now trembles before the King in Yellow.”

This is a review of the original collection published in 1895 by Chambers which contains the four stories known as the King in Yellow stories, highly influential to H.P. Lovecraft and many other authors of horror and weird stories all the way up to the recent HBO series True Detective. "The King in Yellow Mythos," as it is referred to, revolves around a fictional play "The King in Yellow," the second act of which may inspire readers to go mad. "The King in Yellow" is often noted as the first fictional creation of occult literature, a category that would go on to include The Necronomicon and other tomes in Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Fans of Weird and Horror fiction are highly recommended to read the four King in Yellow stories; the other stories should be considered optional at best.

The King in Yellow stories:
The Repairer of Reputations - 4/5 - a man descends into madness...or does he?
The Mask - 4/5 - artists in love
In the Court of the Dragon - 4/5 - a man is followed home after leaving church services
The Yellow Sign - 4/5 - a creepy watchman inspires nightmares

The non-King in Yellow stories get progressively less weird. The last final four stories are set in the Latin Quarter of Paris, and the final two stories appears to feature many of the same characters.
The Demoiselle d'Ys - 3/5 - love in another age
The Prophets' Paradise - 2/5 - an obviously experimental piece almost like a prose poem
The Street of the Four Winds - 3/5 - a man and a cat
The Street of the First Shell - 3/5 - set during the Franco-Prussian War during the 1870 Siege of Paris
The Street of Our Lady of the Fields - 2/5 - bohemian art students in love
Rue Barree - 2/5 - bohemian art students in love 2

The King in Yellow stories were inspired to some degree by the stories "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" and "Haita the Shepherd" by Ambrose Bierce and also probably by "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe.

All of these stories are in the public domain and are posted in many places online.

This is NOT a picture of the King in Yellow:

[Mewa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kilka rewelacyjnych, większość przeciętnych, garść słabiutkich.

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.
Stranger: Indeed?
Cassilda: Indeed it's time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
Stranger: I wear no mask.
Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!
- The King In Yellow

I came to this by way of the HBO show True Detective, which is pretty cool although not anywhere near as clever as it thinks it is, and which features references to the Yellow King and to a ruined city called Carcosa. Robert Chambers was the first guy to write about the Yellow King, in the first four stories in this 1895 book.* And they're pretty cool. I liked the first and last ones the best - "Repairer of Reputations" and "The Yellow Sign".

* El says not to bother reading the rest of it, so I didn't.

The King in Yellow here is a play, and if you read past the first act of the play you go nuts. And these stories are weird, macabre fiction in the grand American tradition that reaches back to Poe - if we're being honest, past him and back to that master of horror Jonathan Edwards.

Carcosa is mentioned here, and that in turn is a crib from the short story "An Inhabitant Of Carcosa" by Ambrose Bierce, which shares themes with his more well-known "An Incident At Owl Creek Bridge." Bierce doesn't really do it for me.

And later on Lovecraft will borrow the King in Yellow for his story "The Whisperer in Darkness" (1930). The idea of fiction spilling over into life, like The King in Yellow does, is one that Lovecraft took about as far as anyone else has, so you can see why he grabbed onto it; his Necronomicon almost exists at this point, so carefully has it been insinuated.

So True Detective is part of a long conversation here, and my friend Liz pointed out over brunch that we're seeing the creation of a myth, like Faust: an idea fun enough that people want to pick it up and play with it and make it theirs. It's a meme. Outside of the specific myth of the King in Yellow, the broader idea of entertainment that will kill you is increasingly ubiquitous. David Foster Wallace plays with it in Infinite Jest, and there's the 1991 Japanese novel Ring, better known for its movie adaptations, and Cronenberg's 1983 Videodrome, and etc. It is not an example of a tulpa, a thing created by force of imagination a la Slenderman. That is a silly idea and it doesn't exist. It is not, in other words, possible that by producing and consuming enough stories about stories that drive the consumer insane, we might inevitably, eventually produce a story that will actually drive us insane. That's ridiculous.

Anyway, I'll write more about this later but my wife wants me to watch a movie with her.

[John Dishwasher John Dishwasher · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories are mostly preoccupied with what obstructs the consummation of romantic relationships. There are cultural barriers, barriers of morality, of one’s own history and self-esteem, of death, of jealousy and possessiveness, of class, of the interference of others, even of random supernatural evils. The book feels somewhat like a young man self-portraying his longings, but the very accomplished narration remains detached in a way that prevents it from going saccharine or melo-romantic. Chambers' conclusion seems to be that love conquers all, usually.

This book starts gothic and ominous and occultic and then, about a third in, suddenly shifts into Parisian stories that resemble, favorably, Lost Generation lit. I actually enjoyed the young Parisian stuff more, and quite a lot. But the dramatic turn from the supernatural to the Bohemian undercut the collection’s integrity for me.

Chambers is a poetic observer. And he excels at delivering the climax in the last paragraph, or even the last sentence. There might be allegory in the relationship barriers and how some of them are overcome, but I demur on that – Trying to unriddle that stuff in a disparate story collection really messes with my head.

[Μπάμπης M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Η επιρροή του βασιλιά με τα κίτρινα απασχολεί τον κόσμο της τέχνης περίπου 130 χρόνια από τότε που εκδόθηκε για πρώτη φορά το 1895.Το βρήκα ιδιαίτερα περίεργο και πρωτότυπο ανάγνωσμα το οποίο συνδυάζει λογοτεχνική ποικιλία στην αφήγηση ,που ίσως αυτό απωθήσει και κουράσει κάποιον αναγνώστη. Αποτελείται από 9 ιστορίες στην έκδοση της οξύ ,στο πρωτότυπο και στην έκδοση του «Αίολου», υπάρχουν 10 ιστορίες-γιατί; (η ιστορία που λείπει από τις εκδόσεις οξύ είναι: Ο Παράδεισος των Προφητών (The Prophet’s Paradise).Οι 4 πρώτες ιστορίες είναι σκοτεινές και αλλόκοτα γοητευτικές που τις συνδέει (διακριτικά και τυχαία) ένα διαβολικό βιβλίο με τίτλο «ο βασιλιάς με τα κίτρινα». οι 5 επόμενες, που δεν έχουν άμεση σχέση με το καταραμένο βιβλίο, τις χαρακτηρίζει μια έντονη ρομαντική και ονειρική γραφή που δυστυχώς όμως μείωνε σταδιακά το αναγνωστικό ενδιαφέρον μου. Η αναγνωστική μου εμπειρία συνοδεύτηκε με τον καιρικό παγετό να επελαύνει την χώρα και το εξαιρετικό μουσικό άκουσμα , μεταλλικού Avant-garde : Zemial-The Repairer of Reputations (parts I & II) που σχετίζεται με το πρώτο διηγήματα της συλλογής "Αποκαταστάσεις Υπολήψεων"(The Repairer of Reputations").

[Nate D · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic of proto-weird, bearing all the marks of decadent era during which it was conceived (ie 1895; Chambers was likely exposed to the currents of fin-de-siecle writing when studying in Paris a couple years before), at turns uncanny and voluptuous. Borrows some names from Ambrose Bierce, lends some themes, much later, to H.P. Lovecraft. Opening story The Repairer of Reputations is justifiably the most noted here for its projected dystopian 1920s, creeping unease, and rather spectacularly unreliable narrator. Subsequent stories build on the myth of the titular madness-induing play with somewhat diminishing returns, then shift gears into a cycle of less genre-inflected Parisian stories, of which "The Street of the First Shell", set during in the 1870 bombardment of Paris by Prussian forces, is actually among the best developed pieces here.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-De gran importancia en la “taxonomía” del horror literario, de gran impacto “atmosférico”, de menor fuerza general hoy en día pero clásico de referencia por méritos propios.-

Género. Relatos.

Lo que nos cuenta. El libro El rey de amarillo (publicación original: The King In Yellow, 1895) es una recopilación de relatos que, en varios casos, contienen la aparición recurrente del libro con la obra de teatro El rey de amarillo, un escrito que afecta, de diferentes formas, a quien lo lee e incluso a los devenires de los argumentos de cada texto.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...

[Wera · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 stars
*** I have a YouTube channel now! Check it out here. ***

I LOVE THIS. I need to reread it as soon as possible. Lowkey I might reread it tomorrow.
AND IT IS ONLY 4 SHORT STORIES!? WHAT.

[El · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1986 Robert Chambers killed a young woman in Central Park in New York. The media called Chambers the Preppie Killer.

This Robert W. Chambers is not the same guy. Robert W. Chambers died in 1933 and, as far as I know, didn't kill anyone. Just so we're clear on that.

The first four stories or so in this collection are loosely related, in that there's this connecting theme of a fictional drama called The King in Yellow. Those who get their paws on it and read it wind up going crazy. These stories are great. I enjoyed the shit out of them.

The rest of the stories did not follow along the same theme and it took me a while to realize that. Like an embarrassingly long time. Like I sat there wondering how the fifth story related to the first four. I didn't realize that they wouldn't all be related in some way, so after my mind was blown by the actual King in Yellow stories, I was disappointed in the other stories. Though, in reality, had I read those other stories separately I would have really enjoyed them as well. Latin Quarter, Paris, bohemians - I love that stuff! But it wasn't what I wanted with this read. I am reading spooky stuff for Halloween-month, and while the first four stories fit my theme so well, the rest left me feeling cold and a little sad.

That being said, The Street of the First Shell is a wonderful story. What I will say about Chambers is he was incredible at writing atmospheric fiction. I felt like I was with every character he wrote, I felt like I was in every circumstance. Even in the stories I didn't care for, I felt like I was making a connection to Chambers' words.

He was a romantic writer, who also wrote some macabre. Personally I would have enjoyed more of the macabre, but then I'm like the Queen of Death over here, so y'know.

I would say if you can read The Repairer of Reputations, The Mask, In the Court of the Dragon, and The Yellow Sign, do so. I don't think you'll be disappointed. They're incredible and slightly freakish and I can see how Lovecraft would be influenced by them. And then read The Street of the First Shell because it's just a really good story. Very powerful.

The others can probably be skipped. Unless you want the romantic, flowery Chambers. Phooey.

[Hux · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of short stories written in 1895 and having a very distinct Poe influence. There is a vague thread throughout the book relating to a drama called The King in Yellow which has been banned and will apparently send its readers insane. The first few stories give some background to this and are connected by a shared universe where this book exists. But other stories are simply stand-alone pieces with a supernatural element.

In truth, it's not very good. The first story is probably the best (madness, jealousy, the king in yellow book as a main feature of the plot) but the others are fairly forgettable. Chambers can certainly write, in a manner that has a literary touch, an educated quality, but he simply doesn't know how to tell a story. He will really drag you through the mill for the sake of a twist ending that feels enormously anticlimactic, providing inane details that offer nothing of value regarding the story or worse, meandering plots that become swamped in uninteresting (and hugely underdeveloped) characters. The book is also dated in the sense that a number of cliches are present. For example, the story 'The Demoiselle d'Ys' is about an American man lost on the Breton moors where he meets a lady falconer who takes him back to her home. They fall in love (very quickly) and in the morning he is bitten by a snake and as he dies he turns around and sees that her home is actually a collection of ruins. Then he falls on a gravestone that reveals her name: DEMOISELLE D'YS WHO DIED FOR THE LOVE OF A STRANGER A.D 1573.

All I could think, as I laughed at this, was about that episode of Friends where Joey thinks he's gonna hit the bigtime because he's been cast as the lead in a movie called 'Shutterspeed' about a man who meets a woman and they fall in love. Then when he goes to her house to find her, the old woman there says: 'Betsy's been dead for ten years.'

Anyway, I found this highly average to say the least. If you're a fan of short (spooky) stories or the writing of Poe, Lovecraft, then you might find this worthy of a look. I found it somewhat dull.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The King in Yellow is a collection of ten stories that was first published in 1895. The first four are linked by reference to a titular play, the next two are also supernatural tales though not noticeably linked, and the concluding four are non-genre tales, but still interesting and worth reading. It's a book from early in Chambers' long and prolific career, and though he did write some further horror-themed works he never had as much success with them or with his romance and history books. The first four stories in this book (The Repairer of Reputations, The Mask, In the Court of the Dragon, and The Yellow Sign) are among the best horror stories of the 19th century, and I'd rank his works second to no one except Poe. His blending of madness and reality are nonpareil, and it's a perfect read for a creepy October evening.