Robert W. Chambers

From The Yellow Site

Chambers is like... a few other fallen Titans - equipped with the right brains and education but wholly out of the habit of using them. - H. P. Lovecraft

Adapted from the Wikipedia page for 'Robert W. Chambers'...

Contents 1 The Life of Robert W. Chambers 1.1 Early Life 1.2 Career 1.3 Family 1.4 Epitaph 2 The Works of Robert W. Chambers

[edit] The Life of Robert W. Chambers

Robert William Chambers Quote: "I have always liked to change, to experiment..." Birth Date: May 26, 1865 Birth Place: Brooklyn, New York, U.S. Death Date: December 16, 1933 Death Place: New York Influences: Ambrose Bierce, George du Maurier? Influenced: H. P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, James Blish, Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, Marion Zimmer Bradley

[edit] Early Life

Robert William Chambers (May 26, 1865 - December 16, 1933) was an American artist and writer.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers (1827 - 1911), a famous lawyer, and Caroline Chambers (née Boughton), a direct descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of Providence, Rhode Island. Robert's brother was Walter Boughton Chambers, the world famous architect.

Robert was first educated at the the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute,and then entered the Art Students League of New York 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 Paris Salon as early as 1889.

[edit] Career

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 (writen in 1887 in Munich) . His most famous, and perhaps most meritorious, effort is The King In Yellow, a collection of weird fiction short stories, connected by the theme of a book (to which the title refers) which drives those who read it insane. Chambers' fictitious drama The King in Yellow features in Karl Edward Wagner's story "The River of Night's Dreaming", while James Blish's story "More Light" purports to include much of the actual text of the play.

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 .

[edit] Family

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.

[edit] Epitaph

He died in New York on December 16th 1933.

A critical essay on Chambers' work appears in S. T. Joshi's book The Evolution of the Weird Tale (2004).

[edit] The Works of Robert W. Chambers

• "In the Quarter" (1894)
• The King In Yellow (1895)
• The Red Republic: A Romance of the Commune (1895)
• The Maker of Moons (1896)
• The Mystery of Choice (1896)
• Lorraine (1897)
• Ashes of Empire (1898)
• Cardigan (1901)
• In Search of the Unknown (1904)
• The Reckoning (1905)
• The Tracer of Lost Persons (1906)
• The Tree of Heaven (1907)
• The Green Mouse (1907)
• The Common Law (1911)
• The Gay Rebellion (1913)
• Quick Action (1914)
• Athalie (1915)
• Police!!! (1915)
• The Slayer of Souls (1920)
• The Talkers (1923)
• The Yellow Sign and Other Stories: The Complete Weird Tales of Robert W. Chambers (2001, ed. S. T.Joshi)-colection of his former horror and fantasy tales