Robert W. Chambers
I have always suspected that the world is less stable than it pretends to be. A gentleman may dine well, dress properly, discuss art, politics, and the weather—and yet somewhere beyond the lamplight there may be a door he has never noticed, a name he should not pronounce, or a book he would be wiser not to open. I have written of artists, lovers, soldiers, dreamers, and fools. They interest me because people are rarely most themselves when they are comfortable. Give them beauty, temptation, fear, or an impossible idea, and the polite surface begins to crack. To modern readers I would say: do not be too certain that everything strange must be explained. Mystery loses something when dragged entirely into daylight. And to writers: leave a little darkness at the edge of the page. The imagination is quite capable of finishing what you wisely refuse to show. As for The King in Yellow—if someone offers you the second act, perhaps you should decline. Perhaps.