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Robert W. Chambers

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Do not confuse with Raymond Wilson Chambers.
Robert William Chambers
Born(1865-05-26)May 26, 1865
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedDecember 16, 1933(1933-12-16) (aged 68)
Broadalbin, New York, U.S.
Occupationshort story writer
GenreHorror, Fantasy, Science fiction, Romance, Historical fiction

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

Biography

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 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, an 1895 collection of weird short stories, connected by the theme of the fictitious drama The King in Yellow, which drives those who read it insane. [1] E. F. Bleiler described The King in Yellow as one of the most important works of American supernatural fiction.[2]

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. Some of Chambers' work contains elements of science fiction, such as In Search of the Unknown and Police!!!, about a zoologist who encounters monsters. [3]

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, New York 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 using the name Robert Husted Chambers) who had two short stories published:

Captain Sebastien in Everybody's Magazine, December, 1922, under the name of Robert Husted Chambers.

Fear of Hell in World Adventurer magazine, v 1 #2, Feb, 1934, under the name of Robert E. S. Chambers.

Robert W. Chambers died at his home in Broadalbin on December 16, 1933 after abdominal surgery.

Criticism and legacy

H. P. Lovecraft said of Chambers in a letter to Clark Ashton Smith,

"Chambers is like Rupert Hughes and a few other fallen Titans – equipped with the right brains and education but wholly out of the habit of using them."[4] Nevertheless, Chambers heavily influenced Lovecraft's tales.

Frederic Taber Cooper commented,

"So much of Mr Chambers's work exasperates, because we feel that he might so easily have made it better."[5]

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

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

Chamber's creation The King in Yellow has inspired many modern authors, including Karl Edward Wagner, Joseph S. Pulver, Lin Carter, James Blish, Michael Cisco, Ann K. Schwader, Robert M. Price and Galad Elflandsson.

Joseph S. Pulver has written nearly 30 tales and poems that are based on and/or include The King in Yellow, Carcosa, Thale, Cassilda, and other elements like the Court of the Dragon of Robert W. Chambers. Joseph S. Pulver is also editing an anthology of all new tales based upon The King in Yellow. The collection is called "A Season in Carcosa". It will be released in 2012 by Miskatonic River Press.

Cover of the first edition of In Search of the Unknown

Further reading

Partial Bibliography of Novels

Wikisource has original works by or about:
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)
  • Outsiders; An Outline (1899)
  • Cardigan (1901)
  • Maids of Paradise (1902) – Historical novel about the Franco-Prussian War [6]
  • In Search of the Unknown (1904)
  • The Reckoning (1905) – Historical novel about the American Revolution [7]
  • The Tracer of Lost Persons (1906)
  • The Tree of Heaven (1907)
  • The Younger Set (1907) – Illustrated by G.C. Wilmshurst
  • The Green Mouse (1907)
  • The Firing Line (1908)
  • Special Messenger (1909)
  • The Danger Mark (1909) – Illustrated by A.B. Wenzell
  • Ailsa Paige (1910)
  • The Common Law (1911)
  • Blue-Bird Weather (1912) – Illustrated by Charles Dana Gibson
  • The Streets of Ascalon (1912)
  • The Gay Rebellion (1913)
  • Anne's Bridge (1914)
  • Quick Action (1914)
  • The Hidden Children (1914) – Cardigan series
  • Athalie (1915)
  • Who goes There! (1915)
  • Police!!! (1915)
  • The Girl Philippa(1916)
  • The Little Red Foot 1920
  • The Slayer of Souls (1920)
  • The Flaming Jewel (1922)
  • The Talkers (1923)
  • America; or, The sacrifice, a romance of the American revolution (1924)
  • Beating Wings (1928)
  • The Happy Parrot (1929)
  • Whistling Cat (1932) Historical Novel about Civil War telegraph operators
  • Secret Service Operator 13 (1934) Final novel fully written by Chambers.
  • Smoke of Battle (1938) posthumously finished & published.

For children

Notes

  1. ^ a b Brian Stableford, "The King in Yellow" in Frank N. Magill, ed. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature, Vol 2. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press, Inc., 1983. pp. 844-847.
  2. ^ Quoted in "Chambers, Robert W(illiam)" by T. E. D. Klein, The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, Penguin, 1986 (p. 74-6).
  3. ^ Bleiler, Everett Franklin and Bleiler,Richard. Science-Fiction: The Early Years. Kent State University Press, 1990. (p. 129-132).
  4. ^ Lovecraft, Selected Letters vol. 2, ed. August Derleth and Donald Wandrei (Arkham House, 1968), p. 148.
  5. ^ Cooper, Some American Story Tellers (Henry Holt, 1911), p.81. Quoted in Joshi, The Evolution of the Weird Tale, p.18.
  6. ^ Nield, Jonathan. A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales,G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1925.(p.114)
  7. ^ Nield, p. 359.

References

  • Bleiler, Everett (1948). The Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Chicago: Shasta Publishers. pp. 74–75.

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