What impresses one most about Mr. Robert W. Chambers is his amazing
versatility. In addition to being a popular novelist, he is an expert
on rare rugs; an artist, and so well qualified a judge of fine art
that he can talk intelligently to the curators and directors of
museums about the old masters on exhibition there; equipped with an
understanding of Chinese and Japanese antiques so that he can detect
forgeries in that art; an authority on mediæval armor; a lover of
outdoors, of horses, dogs, and an ardent collector of butterflies;
and, in addition, a thorough man of the world, who knows Paris and
Petrograd, and many of the out-of-the-way corners of the earth. These
are the qualities that come to mind readily, but the list is far from
complete. The longer one knows Mr. Chambers, the more varied the
knowledge he finds in him.
Out of such rich mental resources Mr. Chambers draws his material for
fiction. He writes two novels a year for a large public that eagerly
devours them. Mr. Chambers’ life is a full and active one.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 26, 1865, and in his youth
he aspired to be a painter. He studied art in Paris at Julien’s
Studio from 1886 to 1893, then returned to New York, and for a while
contributed illustrations to the current publications. Then one day
a novel, “In the Quarter,” appeared with his name as author. From
that time on his life was given largely to writing fiction, and the
record of the years has been a brilliant one. In 1893 he published the
haunting, uncanny, but fascinating “The King in Yellow,” a collection
of stories of art life. He turned to France first as a background for
romance. At irregular intervals from 1894 to 1903 appeared “The Red
Republic,” “Lorraine,” “Ashes of Empire,” and “Maids of Paradise.” They
all had the France-Prussian War as their setting, and dashing young
Americans as their heroes. Then in 1901 with “Cardigan” and other books
he gave expression in fiction to the spirit of the American Revolution.
It has not been simply as an historical or a semi-historical novelist,
however, that Mr. Chambers has made his widest appeal. In the foibles,
extravagances, superficialities and eccentricities of contemporary
American society, he has found his richest vein. It does not matter
whether the background of a particular tale be New York, or Washington,
or Palm Beach. The underlying social and ethical problems are of real
importance. Marriage, the giving or selling in marriage, the reasons
of heredity that make for or against a certain marriage: these are
fundamentals common to all humanity. In “The Younger Set” and “The
Firing Line” hero and heroine have unwisely married, and the story
hinges largely on problems raised subsequently by divorce. In “The
Fighting Chance” (1906), and “The Danger Mark” (1909) the problem is
that of unfitness to marry. In the former it is the man who inherits
a craving for alcohol, and the woman for sentimental philandering; in
the latter the woman is given to intemperance and the man to excessive
gallantry. In one of his later books, “The Hidden Children” (1915), Mr.
Chambers returns to a favorite setting of the earlier years, upper New
York of the Colonial period.
On a basis of solid fact, it would seem impossible for one man to
do all this work. Where does he ever find time to do it? The answer
lies in the fact that Mr. Chambers keeps regular hours--office hours,
almost--for his writing, all of which is done in long hand. At that he
is not a rapid writer, frequent revision is essential, and a passion
for the verification of details consumes much time. Yet the bulk and
excellence of the accomplished performance remains an established fact;
and in many ways it is little less than marvelous.
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