Robert W. Chambers

Lore & Background

Chambers was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers, a corporate and bankruptcy lawyer, and Caroline Smith Boughton. He was educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and later entered the Art Students' League, where Charles Dana Gibson was a fellow student. He studied in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie Julian from 1886 to 1893, and his work was displayed at the Salon as early as 1889. On returning to New York, he sold illustrations to Life, Truth, and Vogue magazines before turning to writing. His first novel, In the Quarter, was written in 1887 in Munich. His most famous work, The King in Yellow, a collection of short stories published in 1895, features several weird stories connected by a fictitious drama that drives readers insane. Chambers later wrote historical fiction set during the Franco-Prussian War and the American Civil War, as well as romance novels that sometimes drew accusations of promoting immorality. He also wrote the novel The Man They Hanged, arguing that Captain Kidd was not a pirate but a scapegoat. During World War I, he wrote war adventure stories, some returning to his weird style. After 1924 he devoted himself solely to historical fiction. Chambers died on December 16, 1933, three days after undergoing intestinal surgery.

Reader's Guide

Robert W. Chambers is primarily remembered for his early weird fiction, especially The King in Yellow, which remained in print through most of the twentieth century largely due to H. P. Lovecraft's inclusion of it in his critical study 'Supernatural Horror in Literature.' Lovecraft admired Chambers's story 'The Harbor Master,' which probably influenced 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth.' Chambers's later work in historical fiction, such as Cardigan, was praised for vivid period details but criticized for poorly written characters and insensitive ethnic humor. His novel The Tracer of Lost Persons was adapted into the long-running radio crime drama Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons. Chambers influenced a wide range of science fiction and fantasy writers, including Lovecraft, A. Merritt, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Jack Vance, James Blish, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Stephen King. The King in Yellow has inspired modern authors such as Nic Pizzolatto, Michael Cisco, and Charles Stross. Critical studies of his horror and fantasy work include essays by Lee Weinstein, Brian Stableford, and a chapter in S. T. Joshi's book The Evolution of the Weird Tale.

Did You Know?

• Chambers argued in The Man They Hanged that Captain Kidd was not a pirate but a scapegoat by the British government.
• He married Elsa Vaughn Moller on July 12, 1898, and they had one son.