Traveller’s Comments (group member since Jan 14, 2015)

Traveller’s comments from the On Paths Unknown group.

Nice, Nate! I was actually going to suggest that we all mention what we've read for Halloween; maybe make a separate thread, but then we'd probably end up with too many threads where this one is fine for the purpose.

You know, we've never made use of the "challenge" function on this group. Shall we try it out just for fun and test it on a "Halloween" theme, so that we have a better idea how it works and if we want to use it for other subjects as well?

Ruth wrote: "Whoops, sorry! I thought this was a spoiler-okay zone."

Well, I thought the stories were short enough for us to have only one thread for each of them, and then perhaps , do a fourth spoilerific one where we draw the threads from all the stories together. We can still post spoilers here tho- as long as we use tags. :)

Shall I make that thread already? Nah, best leave it for last, eh? Or what.

Ok, I'm not at at the end yet, but let's put spoilers re the end in tags, ok?

I'm really liking the arty setting of this story btw! Oh, and since Chambers had actually studied art at university, this is of course a setting that he is quite at home in.

Ruth wrote: "I kept wondering if the suicide chambers were part of the narrator's imagination, something he wished existed.

I don't suppose there's anything with the name. I mean he could have called them 'ro..."

In any case, as I have mentioned on the second thread, at least the sculptures of the "Fates" are for real. I am starting to suspect we'll be given cross-references between the stories as clues hinting at what is real or not.

Hmmm, and although silification can apparently take less than 50 000 years, I doubt that its going to get done in just a few seconds.... ;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrifa...

Well, Lovecraft -must- have been impressed by the Yellow King. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kin...

...and much as people borrowed from Chambers, Chambers also seemed to borrow from Bierce a lot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastur

Thanks for the link to the Bierce story, Amy, I'll definitely read it.
Yes, this story felt very weird and topsy turvy while I read it, but now I feel as if Borges must have cribbed off Chambers. He's diabolically clever in how he makes it almost impossible to tease out fact from fiction, and I can see why Lovecraft admired him.

As far as I know, people like Lovecraft chided him for wasting his talent on potboilers and romances, which he did to literally keep the pot on the boil.
I don't quite think this qualifies as a romance, but the point is that Lovecraft certainly admires at least -some- of Chambers work, and I wouldn't be surprised if Lovecraft did have a liking for King In Yellow.

Did everyone see the link to the second story thread?

Here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Nobody here yet? Amy? Puddin? The walls are echoing...

Anyway, I shall talk myself then. ;) Besides that the opening bit is quite notorious, I noted that sculptures of The Fates are now mentioned a second time.

In the first story:
Six Ionic columns supported the roof, and the single door was of bronze. A splendid marble group of the "Fates" stood before the door, the work of a young American sculptor, Boris Yvain, who had died in Paris when only twenty-three years old.

Puddin Pointy-Toes wrote: "Traveller wrote: "Heh, he obviously knew Germany was going to cause some kind of trouble..."

From what I understand having read a couple of books about the period, Wilhelm II made no illusions wha..."

Well no really, hmm?;) Of course they knew, but actually all of Europe was in a tiff with one another, making and breaking alliances in their hegemony struggles. So yeah, they knew trouble was brewing, just as most of Europe and the US also knew trouble was brewing before WW2 broke out.

The thing is that alliances weren't 100% set yet by 1895 IIRC, so it's interesting that he's making all kinds of guesses. The Communist party tended to be quite strong in Europe around that time as well, so I suppose that's what he labels as Anarchist, alsthough there was also quite a strong Anarchist movement in its own right. Will have to look that up again for dates etc.

Oh! Which reminds me... thread for next story is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Yesss, one can look at it from various levels of potential "reality" or "non-reality". I was wondering why an armorer would have such a weirdly fitting name as Hawberk... and Wilde's name also seems rather made-up.

I wonder if the color yellow was associated with insanity before this story already.

(view spoiler)[ I definitely think that Louis was real though, for various reasons. (hide spoiler)]

Hm! Ghastly story..... ;)

(view spoiler)[ Though, did he(Hildred) kill the cat or did Hildred kill Wilde in the dark? ...and was it the cat who had killed Wilde? Did the cat even exist? (hide spoiler)]

Shall I make an "ending spoiler" thread for this story, or shall we just use spoiler tags for the ending?
EDIT: Nah, not really necessary? I think I'll do one for all three stories, perhaps, hm?

PS. I'm finding Chapter 2 so weird so far, that I'm starting to wonder if the author was sane! :P

There's a lot of military bands and parading regiments around, eh? Makes it feel like London to me... :)

Thanks for the info, Yolande and Matt.

I usually try to get the Oxford classics or Norton Critical editions (or those by Harold Bloom, but those are sometimes (ok, usually) on the pricey side, so knowing that the Penguins also have notes is useful indeed! :)

Thread for discussion of The King in Yellow story 2: The Mask.

As many of you might know, Ambrose Bierce also wrote horror stories, and now I am curious to read "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" an Ambrose Bierce short story (1891) which is apparently where Chambers got HIS city of Carcosa from.

In Bierce's story, the ancient and mysterious city is barely described, and is viewed only in hindsight (after its destruction) by a character who once lived there.

PS. Lucky narrator, that he has so much spare time as to be able to sit and listen for hours and hours to the ting ting of steel on steel...

Interesting how he sees these as solutions:
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...

Hmm, I see what'shisname? Greg? is now showing as "deleted user". Now I'm very curious about what happened there. Looks like other people must also have caught on to his trollness.

Makes one wonder if he was perhaps somebody's sockpuppet, which was something I started suspecting after looking at his profile.

Oh, btw, members can also make threads in this "politics" forum, so if you have something you need to let off steam about, this is the place!

I've just grabbed it myself and I'm seeing why Amy said it made her feel strange. I wonder what people in 1895 thought of his predictions; I'd love to know, if anybody has found some responses from his contemporaries anywhere.

Heh, he obviously knew Germany was going to cause some kind of trouble...

Oh, and I'm wanting to go back and check out the architectural trends from the last century or so...