3 Review(s)

The King in Yellow is a book of short stories by the American writer Robert W. Chambers. The book is named for the fictional play with the same title which recurs as a motif through some of the stories. The first half of the book features highly esteemed horror stories, and the book has been described by critics such as E. F. Bleiler and T. E. D. Klein as a classic in the field of the supernatural.There are 10 stories.The stories in the book are:"The Repairer of Reputations" – a story of egotism and paranoia which carries the imagery of the book's title."The Mask" – a dream story of art, love, and uncanny science."In the Court of the Dragon" – a man is pursued by a sinister church organist who is after his soul."The Yellow Sign" – an artist is troubled by a sinister churchyard watchman who resembles a coffin worm."The Demoiselle d'Ys" – a time travel love story."The Prophets' Paradise" – a sequence of eerie prose poems that develop the style and theme of a quote from the fictional play The King in Yellow which introduces "The Mask"."The Street of the Four Winds" – an atmospheric tale of an artist in Paris who is drawn to a neighbor's room by a cat; the story ends with a tragic touch."The Street of the First Shell" – a war story set in the Paris Siege of 1870."The Street of Our Lady of the Fields" – romantic American bohemians in Paris."Rue Barrée" – romantic American bohemians in Paris, with a discordant ending that playfully reflects some of the tone of the first story.