CHAMBERS, Robert W(illiam)

(1865-1933)

   Popular US writer, author of over 70 novels in various genres, for the first decade or so of his career mostly fantasies, thereafter mainly historical and romantic works. His first successful work was The King in Yellow (coll 1895; cut vt The Mask 1929). The eponymous "King in Yellow" is not a person but a verse play in book form, which (not unlike several much discussed works of recent sf) drives its readers to despair, madness and even suicide (PSYCHOLOGY). Of the four King in Yellow tales in the book, "The Repairer of Reputations" is of particular sf interest, being set in 1920, after a war, in a USA that has legalized suicide. Several other volumes featuring connected stories followed, including The Maker of Moons (coll 1896; title story only 1954 chap) and two sf collections, In Search of the Unknown (coll of linked stories 1904) and its thematic sequel, Police!!! (coll of linked stories 1915), in each of which a philandering zoologist searches for unknown beasts (BIOLOGY), finds them and loses them, along with various girls. The Gay Rebellion (1911 Hampden Magazine; coll of linked stories 1913) consists of comical SATIRES in which women revolt but reform and marry properly. RWC's use of sf material is slick and casual, though nightmares sometimes intrude; a teasing, tamed decadence that had marked RWC from the beginning became routinized in his later work, which was presented with professional polish but little conviction.

   JC

   Other works: The Mystery of Choice (coll 1897); The Tracer of Lost Persons (coll of linked stories 1906); The Tree of Heaven (coll 1907); Some Ladies in Haste (1908); The Green Mouse (1910); The Hidden Children (1914); Quick Action (1914) and its sequel, Athalie (1915); The Dark Star (1917); The Slayer of Souls (1920); The Talkers (1923); The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories (coll 1970) ed with intro by E.F. BLEILER.

   See also: ARTS; SUSPENDED ANIMATION.