The king in yellow

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The King in Yellow with a cover by Chambers

The King in Yellow (English original title: The King in Yellow ) is a collection of short stories published in 1895 by the American author Robert W. Chambers . In terms of content, the stories can be classified as early horror literature . The first four short stories include a play with the same name.

content

First published in Neely's Prismatic Library , a series of novels and short story collections by relatively unknown authors, it contains ten of Chambers' stories. Of these, the first four are loosely connected by three elements that appear again and again:

  • The King in Yellow - a play in two acts
  • The King in Yellow - a mysterious, malevolent and supernatural entity
  • The yellow sign - a terrifying symbol

The first four short stories are macabre in terms of language, characters, and structure. The first short story The Repairer of Reputations takes place in a fictional future America of the 1920s. The fifth and sixth stories, The Demoiselle d'Ys and The Prophet's Paradise , are more romantic, while the last four stories are taken from Chambers' first book of short stories, In the Quarter , published in 1894 .

List of short stories

Original title translation
The Repairer of Reputations The restorer of honor
The Mask The mask
In the Court of the Dragon In the dragon's court
The Yellow Sign The yellow sign
The Demoiselle d'Ys The Miss of Ys
The Prophet's Paradise The Prophet's Paradise
The Street of the Four Winds The road of the four winds
The Street of the First Shell The street of the first shell
The Street of Our Lady of the Fields Our Lady of the Fields Street
Rue Barrée Barrée street

The play "The King in Yellow"

The fictional play The King in Yellow is part of the first four short stories in the collection. It consists of two acts and three characters: Cassilda, Camilla and the King in Yellow. Excerpts from this play can be found in Chambers' short story collection.

Cassilda's song

Cassilda's song

Act I, Scene 2

Cassilda's song

First act, scene 2

Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.

The waves of clouds break along the coast,
The twin suns sink under the lake,
The shadows
grow longer in Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies,
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.

Strange is the night in which black stars rise,
And strange moons circling through the heavens,
But stranger is still
The lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades should sing there,
Where the king's tatters flutter,
Must die unheard in the
gloomy Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die unsung, just as tears that have not been cryed
dry and die in the
lost Carcosa.

The Mask

The short story The Mask is introduced with an excerpt from the play The King in Yellow .

Act I, Scene 2d First act, scene 2d

Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.
Stranger: Indeed?
Cassilda: Indeed, it's time.
We have all laid aside disguise but you.
Stranger: I wear no mask.
Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!

Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.
Stranger: Indeed?
Cassilda: Indeed, it is time.
We've all taken off our disguises except you.
Stranger: I don't wear a mask.
Camilla: (Startled, next to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!

First and second act

All excerpts from the play are from the first act. The stories describe the first act as ordinary, but the second act drives the reader insane with the truth that is revealed. Just seeing the first page of the second act is enough to lure the reader: "If I hadn't caught a glimpse of the opening words of the second act, I would never have finished it [...]." [From: The Repairer of Reputations .] (Original text: "If I had not caught a glimpse of the opening words in the second act I should never have finished it [...].")

Chambers gives only a few hints about the content of the entire piece. An example of such a suggestion can be found in an excerpt from the short story The Repairer of Reputations .

Original text translation

He mentioned the establishment of the Dynasty in Carcosa, the lakes which connected Hastur, Aldebaran and the mystery of the Hyades. He spoke of Cassilda and Camilla, and sounded the cloudy depths of Demhe, and the Lake of Hali. "The scolloped tatters of the King in Yellow must hide Yhtill forever," he muttered, but I do not believe Vance heard him. Then by degrees he led Vance along the ramifications of the Imperial family, to Uoht and Thale, from Naotalba and Phantom of Truth, to Aldones, and then tossing aside his manuscript and notes, he began the wonderful story of the Last King.

He mentioned the establishment of the dynasty at Carcosa, the lakes that linked Hastur, Aldebaran and the mystery of the Hyades. He spoke of Cassilda and Camilla and let the murky depths of Demhe and the lake of Hali resound. "The holy rags of the King in yellow must cover Yhtill forever," he muttered, but I don't think Vance heard him. Then, gradually, he introduced Vance to the relations of the ruling family, to Uoht and Thale, from Naotalba and the Phantom of Truth to Aldones, and then, putting aside his manuscripts and notes, began the wonderful story of the Last King.

A similar excerpt appears in the short story The Yellow Sign , in which two of the protagonists read the play The King in Yellow .

Original text translation

Night fell and the hours dragged on, but still we murmured to each other of the King and the Pallid Mask, and midnight sounded from the misty spiers in the fog-wrapped city. We spoke of Hastur and of Cassilda, while outside the fog rolled against the blank window-panes as the cloud waves roll and break on the shores of Hali.

Night fell and the hours dragged on, but we still mumbled to one another about the King and the Pale Mask, and midnight rang from the veiled spiers in the mist-cloaked city. We spoke of Hastur and Cassilda, while outside the fog billowed against the bare windowpanes, just as the waves of spray boil and break on the shores of Hali.

Influences

Chambers has the name Carcosa, Hali Hastur and from Ambrose Bierce borrowed, especially from Bierce's short story An inhabitant of Carcosa (Original: An Inhabitant of Carcosa ) and Haita the shepherd (original text: Haita the Shepherd ). However, there is no further evidence that Chambers was inspired by Bierce's works beyond using the names. One example of this is Hastur. In Bierce's work Haita the Shepherd , Hastur represents the god of the shepherds. Chambers only mentions Hastur as a place name in The Repairer of Reputations and as the name of one of the lady's hunting companions in The Demoiselle d'Ys .

Horror author H. P. Lovecraft uses motif of a supernatural being, as the King in Yellow represents, in many of his works - and continues to the end of his essay History and Chronology of the Necronomicon following homage à Chambers: "From the rumors about this book [the Necronomicon] Robert W. Chambers is said to have drawn the inspiration for his early novel The King in Yellow . "

Season 1 of the HBO series True Detective uses the King in Yellow and Carcosa as a recurring motif. Chambers' stories in general have made a huge impact on the series. This is what the creator, Nic Pizzolatto , confirmed to the Wall Street Journal .

The companion book The World of Ice & Fire: the Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones to the book series Das Lied von Eis und Feuer by George RR Martin is a homage to the works of Ambrose Bierce , Robert W. Chambers and HP Lovecraft mentions the witcher king of Carcosa, who as the 69th Yellow Emperor claims to rule over the Far Eastern realm of Yi Ti.

expenditure

  • First edition: The King in Yellow. F. Tennyson Neely (Neely's Prismatic Library), New York 1895, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Dkinginyellow00chamuoft~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~doppelseiten%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D .
  • Modern edition: The King in Yellow . Falcon Press, 2014, 978-1-4961-4985-5. The arrangement of the stories differs from the original edition.
  • English e-book: The King in Yellow. HarperPerennial Classics, 2014, ISBN 978-1-4434-3701-1 .
  • German translation: The yellow death: Fantastic stories. Translated by Waltraud Götting. Bastei Lübbe TB # 72016, Bergisch Gladbach 1982, ISBN 3-404-72016-4 . Contains the first seven stories from the original edition:
    • The restorer of the reputation (The Repairer of Reputations, 1895)
    • The Mask (The Mask, 1895)
    • At the court of the Dragon (In the Court of the Dragon, 1895)
    • The Yellow Sign (1895)
    • The Miss of Ys (The Demoiselle d'Ys, 1895)
    • The paradise of the Prophet (The Prophets' Paradise, 1895)
    • The road of the Four Winds (The Street of the Four Winds, 1895)
  • New translation: The King in Yellow. Fantastic stories and poems . Translated by Andreas Diesel. With an afterword by Michael Nagula and a bibliography. Festa, Almersbach 2002, ISBN 3-935822-39-1 . In addition to the first seven stories of the original edition (titles correspond to those of the Bastei edition except for The Demoiselle d'Ys , here as Die Jungfer d'Ys ), it contains seven stories from The Mystery of Choice :
    • The mystery of preferences (The Mystery of Choice, 1897)
    • The Purple Emperor (The Purple Emperor, 1897)
    • Pompe Funèbre - Funeral Celebration (Pompe Funèbre, 1897)
    • The Messenger (The Messenger, 1897)
    • The White Shadow (1897)
    • Passeur - Ferryman (Passeur, 1897)
    • The path of sorrow (The Key to Grief, 1897)
  • German paperback: The King in Yellow. Festa, Almersbach 2014, ISBN 978-3-86552-332-7 . Contains the seven stories of the hardback from The King in Yellow .
  • German e-book: The King in Yellow. Festa, Almersbach 2014, ISBN 978-3-86552-333-4 . Corresponds to the paperback edition.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ HP Lovecraft , Geschichte und Chronologie des Necronomicons , in: ders. Et al., Azathoth · Vermischte Schriften (pp. 298–299), Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt a. M. 1989, p. 299.
  2. ↑ Michael Calia: Writer Nic Pizzolatto on Thomas Ligotti and the Weird Secrets of 'True Detective'. In: WSJ. Retrieved April 22, 2016 .
  3. ↑ The World of Ice & Fire: the Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones, ISBN 9780553805444 , chapter Beyond the Sunset Kingdoms