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<em>The King In Yellow</em>'s New York City Ties
By
Jen Carlson
Published Mar 4, 2014
Modified Mar 4, 2014
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Mar 4, 2014
Modified Mar 4, 2014
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Original artwork for the book. (Courtesy of the NYPL)
The King In Yellow is a collection of short horror stories by author Robert W. Chambers published in 1895. While the book, as a book, has not been specifically mentioned on the new hit HBO miniseries True Detective, the idea of the Yellow King has—the writing is literally on the wall—and many of the show's obsessives have been rushing out to read collection of short stories before next week's finale.
"Strange is the night where the black stars rise, And strange moons circle through the skies, But stranger still is Lost Carcosa"
Now, there's an entire SubReddit with plenty of theoretical debate about this book in relation to the show (there are references to it hidden in dialogue and plain sight)—so let's just focus on the author and the book itself, which includes ten stories. All very dark, all very weird, and all somewhat based around an imaginary play called The King In Yellow, "a forbidden play which induces despair or madness in those who read it." And this all came from the dark, twisted mind of a native New Yorker.
The author's wedding announcement in the New York Times
Brooklyn-born Chambers (who went to Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, was in the Art Students' League, and even had illustrations in Vogue before settling down into writing) penned the book of stories, his most well-known written work. Even if you're not into the HBO series that just revived it, you may be interested in reading it—it has influenced many, including Raymond Chandler and George R. R. Martin. AND it's got a late 1800s New York City as a backdrop—on the very first pages you'll see references to NYC's elevated rails and Madison Avenue, all intermingling with that mysterious Yellow King and someplace called Carcosa.
From the opening pages of The King In Yellow
Two weeks ago we contacted the NYPL to find out if they had this book on hand, and were told they had "two copies in our research collection from its earlier publication (turn of the 20th century) and are looking into ordering copies of the reprint for the circulating collection." It appears that they now have 15 on order. Also in their collection: this gorgeous poster (above) for the book around the time of it's publication. And finally, here's the NY Times' take on the series of short stories, which they ran in 1902:
Tagged
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the king in yellow
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true detective
William Chambers
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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