Really enjoyed your discussion of The Repairer of Reputations. I think it's the best story of Chambers's The King in Yellow cycle, with its point of view narration from a madman and the very strange Mr. Wilde -- could that be a reference to Oscar WIlde, whose trial took place in 1895 -- an influence from the 1890s Decadent literary movement runs through the King in Yellow stories. It's weird how Chambers in 1895 anticipated the First World War (when the story's narrator mentions the war with Germany). You can also detect influences from Chambers on movies like In the Mouth of Madness, about the book that drives people mad when they read it, or Soylent Green's voluntary suicide rooms. Chambers's work should be better known.
I don’t know why but it’s always so fascinating to me to look at pictures of these old authors and know that they were writing stuff like weird fiction. Great book. I used to have the same edition until I made the kindly error of lending it out to a relative (who, as you may have yourself experienced in life, promptly lost it)
I know the cliche of the Madman thinking he is King. But in my professional life as a Nurse working in the closed crisis ward of a big psychiatric hospital in Belgium ( different situation than UK or USA ). I can assure you that the cliche is actually not a cliche but true . I have worked with patients who were completely stuck in their psychotic state and lived in their own world. They perceived the normal world from their viewpoint, hallucinating, paranoid. Some of them were completely harmless and happy in their World . I remember a young man ( cliche again) seeing himself as a benevolent Messiah , as the Christ returned, the savior of the World and humanity. He was kind soft loving and completely harmless and happy in his state . Others , were amongst the most dangerous people I ‘ve ever met. Skyrocketing. High paranoia, audio directive hallucinations that send them on killing missions. I read the King in Yellow compilation of short stories years ago and immediately recognized the main character in the first story as a schizophrenic patient in active, solidified , chronic psychosis. Beautifully written and so recognizable but without mystery. The Mask is one of my favorites in the book
@@gumbypokey have you read my comment ? I don’t look down on the patients I worked with in any way. I also will not make it sound like they are all harmless because they are not all harmless like portrayed in that movie As for the ‘ Universal Soldiers ‘ in the movie : yes you can include them as ‘ mad man ‘
I saw the same kind of thing as a prison guard (in the US we hold some criminallyinsane in jail till they go to a hospital), sometimes they where fine, other times totally different.
Good stuff. Extra info for you- Alzabo Soup have an entire podcast episode dedicated to this story. Also (sorry for the shameless name drop) Michael Andre-Driussi, the author of Lexicon Urthus, recently sent me a copy of of his new book "A Chapter Guide for the King In Yellow"
Thanks for watching! I've heard the Alzabo Soup podcast mentioned in connection to so many great books I'm going to have to start listening! That book looks awesome as well!
Same edition I have. Love the Repairer of Reputations. Such a fantastic dreamlike mood to it. I take everything the narrator as unreliable in all his futurology, and unwittingly, the racism adds to the creepiness of their mindset, along with the euthanasia stuff
Cosmic horror doesn't really do it for me. My favorite Lovecraft story is Dream Quest, because it is actually pretty funny on occasion. Still it is interesting to see the impact this must have had on later writers and cultural concepts. My first thought is for the 1933 song Gloomy Sunday. An urban legend sprang up that hearing it will lead to death, as the writer suffered depression and died shortly after publishing it. Much like the characters in the story I sought it out, but unlike their reaction to The King in Yellow, I was underwhelmed by the supposed "cursed power" of the song. If you want to find similar stories there is the modern horror/sci-fi concept of a "cognitohazard." Basically the idea of knowledge that creates madness. A lot of younger writers explore the concept with the fictional world of the SCP Foundation. It isn't traditionally published, but is a convoluted online rabbit hole you could spend days exploring.
The ideals he seems to be promoting at the beginning are part of how fascism came to be, and from the 1890s when he was writing it they would have been very mainstream. I didn't necessarily take them as his own ideology though, as the story reads like a dystopian sci-fi, and it's almost eerie to see him "predicting" not only the rise of fascism from nationalism, but even got the decade right. The removal of "undesirables" is a key component to both and the highly militaristic nature of day to day life, as depicted, despite no wars being active leans even more strongly towards fascism. The "Imperial Dynasty of America" is almost a parody of the mythologies which fascists build about themselves, the "myth of a glorious past" and the "lethal chambers" are a sort of solution for those who just don't fit in with the new order of things. It almost reads like Chambers was an anti-imperialist, but Everytime I read this story I'm still left wondering wtf exactly I just read so I try not to assume much about the authors ideology therefore
I really interpreted the story (I really do) from the outside, as being almost eerily prophetic about WWI, and the Repairer of Reputations (as a job) as something that we could relate to now in the time of online existence and the occasional victim of past online misdeeds, that can ruin lives. Even the euthanasia that is legal now in parts of Europe and Canada. The writer imagines (foresees) a future as through the filter of a madman's mind. lol For some reason my own theories want to conflate Hildred's mad's thoughts about Kings, yellow, power, war, and his cousin Louis with Louis XIV, (the French Sun King), although I really don't see any analogies between what I know if his reign and anything really in the story. The story just seems to be SO out there to be written prior to 1900, that I really can't imagine where Chambers' source material or ideas could've possibly come from (I"m not really a horror or sci fi reader of much depth so that's not saying much, really).
Well, this is very liminal of you! I just reread "The Repairer of Reputations" and found it darker and more disturbing than I remembered. Another victime of the YT algorithm, I chanced on a quickie on True Detective/Season 1, then got a Kindle collection of Chambers works, and now here I am. It's nice when thew gods of the Interwebs smile on me, rare as it is.
ruclips.net/video/B-s3YxqCt6g/видео.htmlsi=UIEdRVG08feqnpjq This is a different more oblique look at Chambers and the King in Yellow. An interesting rabbit trail. It involves the decadents, and chambers feelings about them.
Im not sure why RUclips never showed me this video. Its not in my feed at all, I had to search for it after you just posted story 2. Also... this is the first time Ive ever had a better looking same edition as you. 😅 I have to disagree with you about Chambers prescribing these things to make the world better. I (and many others) read this as a satire of an extremely dystopian society, and very much written from the perspective of if the devils of the Reformation era he was living in, win over all of American society. The Lethal Chamber underlines a form of counter-revolution citizen-led self-eugenics program where people disgusted by this horrible civilization are given the option to just quit it. His dystopian viewpoint also helps us understand something of the play, 'The King in Yellow'. It isnt just intoxicating and maddening on it's own, outside of all context... it sits within the dystopian concept as a form of low brow entertainment... extreme violence and the catering to base desires as the lowest form of entertainment. Today we might classify it as 'gore-p0rn' or exploitation or schlock... so visceral, so shocking that the audience or reader cannot avert thier eyes. Especially considering that Chambers is considered a Romantic (as in Romantic movement) or Art Nouveau writer later on, it feels like a bit of moralizing against the kind of schlocky/shock literature that Weird fiction would largely evolve into. Also, my read was that the henchman character killed Mr Wilde for tormenting him, and thats why he runs to the Lethal Chamber. This dystopian, moralizing viewpoint is one of the things that puts Chambers IMO in stark contrast to Lovecraft. Speaking of whom, Mr. Wilde is IMO one of the big inspirations in this book for the Music of Erich Fann, along with In the Court of the Dragon, and some of those later Romanic 'In the Street of' stories.
Of course we only have the narrator's word that the story is even set in the future, yet alone that the events of the future described actually occurred. It's just as possible that Hildred is the racist, not Chambers.
Why do you presume that CHambers was not ahead of his time? Have you actually considered whether or not he could be right? Look at rhe world. Look at your own country. How have things changed since Chambers wrote words you find have not aged well?
I love the poem from The King In Yellow. So beautiful and powerful.
You have peaked my interest. I am a big fan of Ambroise Bierce, and have heard of The King in Yellow. Will search my library for a copy.
Really enjoyed your discussion of The Repairer of Reputations. I think it's the best story of Chambers's The King in Yellow cycle, with its point of view narration from a madman and the very strange Mr. Wilde -- could that be a reference to Oscar WIlde, whose trial took place in 1895 -- an influence from the 1890s Decadent literary movement runs through the King in Yellow stories. It's weird how Chambers in 1895 anticipated the First World War (when the story's narrator mentions the war with Germany). You can also detect influences from Chambers on movies like In the Mouth of Madness, about the book that drives people mad when they read it, or Soylent Green's voluntary suicide rooms. Chambers's work should be better known.
I don’t know why but it’s always so fascinating to me to look at pictures of these old authors and know that they were writing stuff like weird fiction.
Great book. I used to have the same edition until I made the kindly error of lending it out to a relative (who, as you may have yourself experienced in life, promptly lost it)
I know the cliche of the Madman thinking he is King. But in my professional life as a Nurse working in the closed crisis ward of a big psychiatric hospital in Belgium ( different situation than UK or USA ). I can assure you that the cliche is actually not a cliche but true . I have worked with patients who were completely stuck in their psychotic state and lived in their own world. They perceived the normal world from their viewpoint, hallucinating, paranoid. Some of them were completely harmless and happy in their World . I remember a young man ( cliche again) seeing himself as a benevolent Messiah , as the Christ returned, the savior of the World and humanity. He was kind soft loving and completely harmless and happy in his state . Others , were amongst the most dangerous people I ‘ve ever met. Skyrocketing. High paranoia, audio directive hallucinations that send them on killing missions. I read the King in Yellow compilation of short stories years ago and immediately recognized the main character in the first story as a schizophrenic patient in active, solidified , chronic psychosis. Beautifully written and so recognizable but without mystery. The Mask is one of my favorites in the book
The Mask is a wonderful beautiful story of man's hubris and the unforseen consequences.
Thanks for the comment and your perspective!
Have you seen the French production 'King of Hearts'?...In war torn Europe, who are the real 'mad men'...
@@gumbypokey have you read my comment ? I don’t look down on the patients I worked with in any way. I also will not make it sound like they are all harmless because they are not all harmless like portrayed in that movie
As for the ‘ Universal Soldiers ‘ in the movie : yes you can include them as ‘ mad man ‘
I saw the same kind of thing as a prison guard (in the US we hold some criminallyinsane in jail till they go to a hospital), sometimes they where fine, other times totally different.
Good stuff.
Extra info for you-
Alzabo Soup have an entire podcast episode dedicated to this story.
Also (sorry for the shameless name drop) Michael Andre-Driussi, the author of Lexicon Urthus, recently sent me a copy of of his new book "A Chapter Guide for the King In Yellow"
Thanks for watching! I've heard the Alzabo Soup podcast mentioned in connection to so many great books I'm going to have to start listening! That book looks awesome as well!
The one with the statues is my favorite.
You might think it has a sort of a happy ending, until you think back to certain letters and warnings…
Same edition I have. Love the Repairer of Reputations. Such a fantastic dreamlike mood to it. I take everything the narrator as unreliable in all his futurology, and unwittingly, the racism adds to the creepiness of their mindset, along with the euthanasia stuff
All I could think of was that the narrator is just the kind of guy who will end up as my next roomie...
Well said!
Cosmic horror doesn't really do it for me. My favorite Lovecraft story is Dream Quest, because it is actually pretty funny on occasion. Still it is interesting to see the impact this must have had on later writers and cultural concepts.
My first thought is for the 1933 song Gloomy Sunday. An urban legend sprang up that hearing it will lead to death, as the writer suffered depression and died shortly after publishing it. Much like the characters in the story I sought it out, but unlike their reaction to The King in Yellow, I was underwhelmed by the supposed "cursed power" of the song.
If you want to find similar stories there is the modern horror/sci-fi concept of a "cognitohazard." Basically the idea of knowledge that creates madness. A lot of younger writers explore the concept with the fictional world of the SCP Foundation. It isn't traditionally published, but is a convoluted online rabbit hole you could spend days exploring.
Your talk about Gloomy Sunday made think of Chuck Palahniuk's novel "Lullaby" about a song that kills anyone who hears it.
The ideals he seems to be promoting at the beginning are part of how fascism came to be, and from the 1890s when he was writing it they would have been very mainstream. I didn't necessarily take them as his own ideology though, as the story reads like a dystopian sci-fi, and it's almost eerie to see him "predicting" not only the rise of fascism from nationalism, but even got the decade right. The removal of "undesirables" is a key component to both and the highly militaristic nature of day to day life, as depicted, despite no wars being active leans even more strongly towards fascism. The "Imperial Dynasty of America" is almost a parody of the mythologies which fascists build about themselves, the "myth of a glorious past" and the "lethal chambers" are a sort of solution for those who just don't fit in with the new order of things. It almost reads like Chambers was an anti-imperialist, but Everytime I read this story I'm still left wondering wtf exactly I just read so I try not to assume much about the authors ideology therefore
So dystopian it's modern factual truth realized 120 years past.. This is the absolute madness and horror slowly creeping upon us right now..
53:16 I have always told people they should read the first six stories, not the first four. Brilliant examination by the way.
Ah, I now see where John Carpenter got the idea for 'In The Mouth Of Madness'...an author's story impacting reality...
Nature is neither fair nor equal, but it is always right.
The model for Mr. Wild might be Milverton in "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton"
Just found your channel and loving it. Do you keep a listing of the books/stories you’ve reviewed anywhere online as well?
Thanks for watching! We have a goodreads that only includes the books we've covered on the channel! goodreads.com/user/show/175552751-liminal-spaces
It's fun to refer to Hildred Castaigne as "the last American politician that had any ideas that made sense" just to see who gets it.
I really interpreted the story (I really do) from the outside, as being almost eerily prophetic about WWI, and the Repairer of Reputations (as a job) as something that we could relate to now in the time of online existence and the occasional victim of past online misdeeds, that can ruin lives. Even the euthanasia that is legal now in parts of Europe and Canada.
The writer imagines (foresees) a future as through the filter of a madman's mind. lol
For some reason my own theories want to conflate Hildred's mad's thoughts about Kings, yellow, power, war, and his cousin Louis with Louis XIV, (the French Sun King), although I really don't see any analogies between what I know if his reign and anything really in the story.
The story just seems to be SO out there to be written prior to 1900, that I really can't imagine where Chambers' source material or ideas could've possibly come from (I"m not really a horror or sci fi reader of much depth so that's not saying much, really).
I love this interpretation!
Well, this is very liminal of you! I just reread "The Repairer of Reputations" and found it darker and more disturbing than I remembered. Another victime of the YT algorithm, I chanced on a quickie on True Detective/Season 1, then got a Kindle collection of Chambers works, and now here I am.
It's nice when thew gods of the Interwebs smile on me, rare as it is.
Well said!
The fountain of the golden rainbow. Warm and acrid.
Death Sentences, by Kawamata Chiaki
Haven't heard of this, thanks for the rec!
@@LiminalSpaces03 It's also about a text that makes people crazy, though in a very different context. Also a great book :)
ruclips.net/video/B-s3YxqCt6g/видео.htmlsi=UIEdRVG08feqnpjq
This is a different more oblique look at Chambers and the King in Yellow. An interesting rabbit trail. It involves the decadents, and chambers feelings about them.
Im not sure why RUclips never showed me this video. Its not in my feed at all, I had to search for it after you just posted story 2. Also... this is the first time Ive ever had a better looking same edition as you. 😅
I have to disagree with you about Chambers prescribing these things to make the world better. I (and many others) read this as a satire of an extremely dystopian society, and very much written from the perspective of if the devils of the Reformation era he was living in, win over all of American society. The Lethal Chamber underlines a form of counter-revolution citizen-led self-eugenics program where people disgusted by this horrible civilization are given the option to just quit it. His dystopian viewpoint also helps us understand something of the play, 'The King in Yellow'. It isnt just intoxicating and maddening on it's own, outside of all context... it sits within the dystopian concept as a form of low brow entertainment... extreme violence and the catering to base desires as the lowest form of entertainment. Today we might classify it as 'gore-p0rn' or exploitation or schlock... so visceral, so shocking that the audience or reader cannot avert thier eyes. Especially considering that Chambers is considered a Romantic (as in Romantic movement) or Art Nouveau writer later on, it feels like a bit of moralizing against the kind of schlocky/shock literature that Weird fiction would largely evolve into.
Also, my read was that the henchman character killed Mr Wilde for tormenting him, and thats why he runs to the Lethal Chamber.
This dystopian, moralizing viewpoint is one of the things that puts Chambers IMO in stark contrast to Lovecraft. Speaking of whom, Mr. Wilde is IMO one of the big inspirations in this book for the Music of Erich Fann, along with In the Court of the Dragon, and some of those later Romanic 'In the Street of' stories.
True Detective was something eh?
I enjoyed it!
Of course we only have the narrator's word that the story is even set in the future, yet alone that the events of the future described actually occurred. It's just as possible that Hildred is the racist, not Chambers.
Based Robert Chambers, he was totally right
Dogs barking
Why do you presume that CHambers was not ahead of his time? Have you actually considered whether or not he could be right? Look at rhe world. Look at your own country. How have things changed since Chambers wrote words you find have not aged well?
Are you making the argument that ethnic exclusion is a concept which has aged well? You're either lying or naive if you think this is the case.
Science/nature segregated people by geography. Are you saying science is racist?
SO that's what you fixated on out of this whole video, huh? Interesting.
No it didn't