The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers
The King in Yellow is a combination of fantasy and romance; the fantasy pieces have won and maintained the reputation of the works. These stories have two central themes. One is the existence of a sinister and banned book, also known as The King in Yellow, which has the ability to morally corrupt or spiritually destroy all who read it. The second theme is that the fictional book within Robert Chambers' work is based on the almost unknown truth that there is a true "King in Yellow" who comes from beyond the stars and whose invisible, harmful influence on human life is more pervasive than can be imagined.
Chambers's premise is that an imperial dynasty has established itself on Earth, originating from the alien planet (or city) of Carcosa, in the group of stars known as Iadi in the constellation of Taurus. In that distant place, "twin suns sink behind the lake", "black stars rise in the night sky" and "strange moons circulate in the skies". This is the original domain of the King in Yellow; somehow, the Earth has become his concern.
In the collection's four opening stories, Chambers explores the ramifications of these two themes and their premise. In "The Repairer of Reputations", a very tense young New Yorker, Hildred Castaigne, believes that his cousin, Louis Castaigne, is the legitimate heir to the "imperial dynasty of America". Castaigne's plot to kill his cousin Louis and his fiancée is foiled, and he is taken to a criminal asylum.
The Mask, the second story in the collection, introduces Boris Yvrain, a sculptor, and Jack Scott, a painter, two recurring figures in The King in Yellow. Yvrain invented a liquid that transforms living matter into a perfectly modeled sculpture; unfortunately he kills him as he is preserved. Now The King in Yellow (the fictional book within a book) has its strange effect on the characters. After reading the book, Genevieve, Boris Yvrain's lover, enters a pool of her strange liquid and becomes a statue. Boris kills himself. The narrator, Alec, takes possession of the Parisian home of his dead friends, with the life-in-death statue of Genevieve, whom Alec also loves, isolated in a separate room. After a few months, Alec discovers that the ossifying fluid has only a temporary effect. Genevieve recovers in time for a happy ending.
"The Court of the Dragon," the third story in the collection, makes an occasional reference to Carcosa and the king in yellow, but it is the fourth story, "The Yellow Mark," which is the broader exploration of Chambers's basic premise. . . In this story, a painter and his young model are fascinated but disgusted by the pasty snail-like night watchman from a nearby church. The couple have the nightmare of being transported around the city in a hearse and buried alive. The model finds a brooch with a strange gold design and presents it to her lover; she gave him the yellow mark and so she made the painter the property of the King in Yellow. Later, in a scene presented in dreamlike realism, the night watchman comes to claim the sign. After the fight, it is revealed that the keeper had been dead for months and the young painter himself lies dying at the end of the story. Such is the power of the King in Yellow.
