History Literature / TheKingInYellow

* TakenForGranite: "The Mask"

* ShoutOut: Chambers took the enigmatic names Hastur and Carcosa from two of AmbroseBierce's short stories.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: At various points the play indulges in ham-fisted political commentary about civil liberties and indefinite detention and various other comments that the reader might assume are obvious references to post-9/11 America. Until you remember that the book was written in ''1999''!

* BrownNote: The eponymous fictional play. [[ShmuckBait Don't read it!]] Also the Yellow Sign, which seems to leave the viewer susceptible to some kind of mind control if they've already read ''The King in Yellow''.

Creator/HPLovecraft cited this book as an influence, and it's the direct[[hottip:*:Chambers himself got it from a short story by Creator/AmbroseBierce, "Haïta the Shepherd", in which it's just a shepherd's god]] source of Hastur's name. According to Lovecraft's friend and fellow writer AugustDerleth, the actual performance of ''The King in Yellow'' is a summoning ritual for an EldritchAbomination.

Creator/HPLovecraft cited this book as an influence, and it's the direct[[hottip:*:Chambers himself got it from a short story by Creator/AmbroseBierce, "Haïta the Shepherd", in which it's just a shepherd's god]] source of [[spoiler:Hastur]]'s name. According to Lovecraft's friend and fellow writer AugustDerleth, the actual performance of ''The King in Yellow'' is a summoning ritual for an EldritchAbomination.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Arguable example, depending on the politics espoused by the actual author and the reader's interpreation. In "The Repairer of Reputations," the narrator waxes lyrical about how glorious and {{Utopia}}n America has become in the year 1920. But all the while he describes an America that is gradually becoming more xenophobic, more militaristic, more [[TheEmpire imperial]], less democratic, and more given to sweeping its problems under the rug. Everything is orderly, pretty, and colorful, but very dark currents are moving beneath the surface. (Notably, enough people seem to be dissatisfied with their lives that the government is subsidizing assisted suicide!)

* GenreBlind: [[OnceAnEpisode Almost every story]], somebody picks up a copy of ''The King In Yellow'' and reads it, even though they should know, both from the genre and from ''in-universe sources'', that the book is horrific and should never be read, no matter how artistic it is. Despite this, everyone keeps a copy on their shelf where anybody can read it and go insane.
** One character even mentions seeing it in bookstores. . .

* ShoutOut: Chambers took the names for the enigmatic locations Hastur and Carcosa from two of AmbroseBierce's short stories.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Arguable example, depending on the politics espoused by the actual author and the reader's interpreation. In "The Repairer of Reputations," the narrator waxes lyrical about how glorious and {{Utopia}}n America has become. But all the while he describes an America that is gradually becoming more xenophobic, more militaristic, more [[TheEmpire imperial]], less democratic, and more given to sweeping its problems under the rug. Everything is orderly, pretty, and colorful, but very dark currents are moving beneath the surface. (Notably, enough people seem to be dissatisfied with their lives that the government is subsidizing assisted suicide!)

* MindScrew: "In the Court of the Dragon"; "The Prophets' Paradise"; even the opening poem.

Meanwhile, her brother plots to assume the throne for himself, the SinisterMinister High Priest undermines her family's power with the common folk, and as if that wasn't enough, a mysterious phantom city appears, bringing with it a dark messenger and all manner of unsettling omens. And then ItGotWorse.

* ItGotWorse: "Don't you see? I've found the Yellow Sign!"
** "I wear no mask."

* CrapsaccharineWorld: In "The Repairer of Reputations," the narrator waxes lyrical about how glorious and {{Utopia}}n America has become. But all the while he describes an America that is gradually becoming more xenophobic, more militaristic, more [[TheEmpire imperial]], less democratic, and more given to sweeping its problems under the rug. Everything is orderly, pretty, and colorful, but very dark currents are moving beneath the surface. (Notably, enough people seem to be dissatisfied with their lives that the government is subsidizing assisted suicide!)
** Actually averted. [[spoiler:The protagonist is a classic example of an UnreliableNarrator and everything he states needs to be taken with a tanker-load of salt. As the editor's note goes, Hildred later died in an Asylum for the Criminally Insane, so his depiction of America is highly unreliable. Just look at the Louis/Hildred scene with the diadem.]]

* ShoutOut: Chambers took the names for the enigmatic locations ''Hastur'' and ''Carcosa'' from two of AmbroseBierce's short stories.
** The book itself is practically a StockShoutOut among CosmicHorrorStory fans, with references ranging from Lovecraft's use of it in his stories to an appearance in Music/BlueOysterCult[='=]s "ETI."
* StylisticSuck: What's seen of the play is intentionally dull and cliché. It's said the entire first half is like this, to prime the audience for the brain-breaking second half.

** It's implied that [[spoiler:this date and everything relating to it is just product of the protagonist's delusion, though]].

* UnreliableNarrator: "The Repairer of Reputations", so much so that one wonders how much of that world is real and what is merely a delusion.

* TimeTravel: "The Demoiselle d'Ys"

** It's implied that this date and everything relating to it is just product of the protagonist's delusion, though.

** Averted, actually; the protagonist is a classic example of an UnreliableNarrator and everything he states needs to be taken with a tanker-load of salt. As the editor's note goes, Hildred later died in an Asylum for the Criminally Insane, so his depiction of America is highly unreliable. Just look at the Louis/Hildred scene with the diadem.

In 1999, playwright Thom Ryng wrote a production-length facsimile of the "real" ''King in Yellow'' based on Chambers' short stories (and following the rough plot laid out by Kevin Ross in the ''CallOfCthulhu'' RPG). Set on the world of Hastur, the play centers on the last generation of a dying, world-spanning Imperial dynasty; Queen Cassilda must find choose a royal heir before she dies, but one of her kids is an empty-headed socialite, one has joined the ReligionOfEvil, and the last is a hothead who is too young to be crowned.

* TheFool: Bremchas, a drunken (and possibly insane) guardsman who might be the only character who really understands what's going on in the play.]

* CrapsaccharineWorld: In "The Repairer of Reputations," the narrator waxes lyrical about how glorious and {{Utopia}}n America has become. But all the while he describes an America that is gradually becoming more xenophobic, more militeristic, more [[TheEmpire imperial]], less democratic, and more given to sweeping its problems under the rug. Everything is orderly, pretty, and colorful, but very dark currents are moving beneath the surface. (Notably, enough people seem to be dissatisfied with their lives that the government is subsidizing assisted suicide!)
** Averted, actually, the protagonist is a classic example of an UnreliableNarrator and everything he states needs to be taken with a tanker-load of salt. As the editor's note goes, Hildred later died in an Asylum for the Criminally Insane, so his depiction of America is highly unreliable. Just look at the Louis/Hildred scene with the diadem.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: At various points the indulges in ham-fisted political commentary about civil liberties and indefinite detention and various other comments that the reader might assume are obvious references to post-9/11 America. Until you remember that the book was written in ''1999''!

* TheFool: Bremchas, a drunken (and possibly insane) guardsman who might be the only character who really understands what's going on in the play.