Robert W. Chambers

Robert William Chambers (May 26, 1865 – December 16, 1933) was an American artist and fiction writer, best known for his book of short stories titled The King in Yellow, published in 1895.

Early life Chambers was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers (1827–1911), a corporate and bankruptcy lawyer, and Caroline Smith Boughton (1842–1913). His parents met when his mother was twelve years old and William P. was interning with her father, Joseph Boughton, a prominent corporate lawyer. Eventually the two formed the law firm of Chambers and Boughton which continued to prosper even after Joseph's death in 1861. Robert Chambers's great-grandfather, William Chambers (birth unknown), a lieutenant in the British Royal Navy, was married to Amelia Saunders (1765–1822), a great-granddaughter of Tobias Saunders of Westerly, Rhode Island. The couple moved from Westerly to Greenfield, Massachusetts, and then to Galway, New York, where their son, also named William Chambers (1798–1874), was born. The second William graduated from Union College at the age of 18, and then went to a college in Boston, where he studied medicine. Upon graduating, he and his wife, Eliza P. Allen (1793–1880), a direct descendant of Roger Williams, 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 effort is The King in Yellow, a collection of short stories published in 1895. This included several famous weird short stories that are connected by the theme of a fictitious drama of the same title, which drives those who read it insane. E. F. Bleiler described The King in Yellow as one of the most important works of American supernatural fiction. The story was also strongly admired by H. P. Lovecraft and his circle.

Chambers returned to the weird genre in his later short story collections The Maker of Moons, The Mystery of Choice and The Tree of Heaven, but none matched the success or acclaim of The King in Yellow. Some of Chambers's work contains elements of science fiction, such as In Search of the Unknown (1904) and Police!!! (1915), about a zoologist who encounters monsters. Lovecraft expressed admiration for Chambers's story "The Harbor Master" (from In Search of the Unknown) which probably influenced "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" (1931).

Chambers's main work of historical fiction was a series of novels set during the Franco-Prussian War. These novels were The Red Republic (1895, centring on the Paris Commune), Lorraine (1898), Ashes of Empire (1898) and Maids of Paradise (1903). Chambers wrote Special Messenger (1909), Ailsa Paige (1910) and Whistling Cat (1932), novels set during the American Civil War.

Criticism and legacy H. P. Lovecraft said of Chambers in a letter to Clark Ashton Smith:

Though Chambers largely abandoned supernatural themes in his later works, only his early weird fiction remained in print through most of the twentieth century thanks in part to Lovecraft's inclusion of them in the critical study "Supernatural Horror in Literature".

Frederic Taber Cooper commented:

In an overview of Chambers' historical fiction, Wendy Bousfield stated that the historical novel Cardigan was "Chambers' most highly praised historical novel" during his lifetime. Bousfield also argued that much of Chambers' historical fiction was marred by poorly written characters and "insensitive humor at the expense of ethnic types". Bousfield also wrote that "Chambers' trivializing of human relationships is regrettable, since his recreation of period details of dress and daily life is vivid and historically accurate." Brian Stableford's essay in the St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers and a chapter in S. T. Joshi's book The Evolution of the Weird Tale (2004).

Chambers's novel The Tracer of Lost Persons was adapted into a long-running (1937–54) radio crime drama, Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons, by soap opera producers Frank and Anne Hummert.

Science fiction and fantasy writers influenced by Robert W. Chambers' work include H. P. Lovecraft, A. Merritt, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Tod Robbins, Jack Vance, James Blish, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Joseph Payne Brennan, Lin Carter, and Karl Edward Wagner.

Chambers's The King in Yellow has inspired many modern authors, including Joseph S. Pulver, Lin Carter, James Blish, Nic Pizzolatto, Michael Cisco, Stephen King, Ann K. Schwader, Robert M. Price, Galad Elflandsson and Charles Stross.