Rue Barrée

by Robert W. Chambers

In "Rue Barrée" by Robert W. Chambers, a young American artist in Paris becomes infatuated with a mysterious and aloof woman living on the same street. As he pursues her affection, he uncovers her tragic backstory and learns about the sacrifices she has made to protect her independence. The tale explores themes of love, art, and the bittersweet nature of human connection.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Horror

47 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 8, 2012

About the author

Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.

Chambers was first educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute,and then entered the Art Students' League at around the age of twenty, where the artist Charles Dana Gibson was his fellow student. Chambers studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, and at Académie Julian, in Paris from 1886 to 1893, and his work was displayed at the Salon as early as 1889. On his return to New York, he succeeded in selling his illustrations to Life, Truth, and Vogue magazines. Then, for reasons unclear, he devoted his time to writing, producing his first novel, In the Quarter (written in 1887 in Munich). His most famous, and perhaps most meritorious, effort is The King in Yellow, a collection of weird short stories, connected by the theme of the fictitious drama The King in Yellow, which drives those who read it insane.

Chambers returned to the weird genre in his later short story collections The Maker of Moons and The Tree of Heaven, but neither earned him such success as The King in Yellow.

Chambers later turned to writing romantic fiction to earn a living. According to some estimates, Chambers was one of the most successful literary careers of his period, his later novels selling well and a handful achieving best-seller status. Many of his works were also serialized in magazines.

After 1924 he devoted himself solely to writing historical fiction.

Chambers for several years made Broadalbin his summer home. Some of his novels touch upon colonial life in Broadalbin and Johnstown.

On July 12, 1898, he married Elsa Vaughn Moller (1882-1939). They had a son, Robert Edward Stuart Chambers (later calling himself Robert Husted Chambers) who also gained some fame as an author.

Chambers died at his home in the village of Broadalbin, New York, on December 16th 1933.

Reviews

[Althea Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Chambers story that I feel might be semi-autobiographical.

A group of art students tend to be womanizers, working their way through the available working-class girls of Paris' Latin Quarter.

However, one girl, a pianist, who has made herself markedly unavailable, has particularly captured their imaginations due to her cool inaccessibility. (Or, at least, that how the boys perceive it - from her perspective, it's a necessary self-preservation.)

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is similar to Chambers’ other love stories, captivating the audience with the character’s wholesome longing and wistfulness.

To be honest though, I think the last quarter of the story was very poorly done.

[Forked Radish · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author encounters a mysterious bipolar bimbo and finds the truth at the end—which most readers seem to have missed. So here is the answer to the mystery: The room where Rue Barreé resided was in a mental asylum, hence the white walls.

[Chris Hall · Rating 1 out of 5]

Artful language but again not much going on.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25⭐

[John Mace · Rating 3 out of 5]

What did that have to do with The King In Yellow?

[Saski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. At first I was excited because it was a continuation of the same characters as the previous story. But it had little of the play among them that contributed to the excellence of the previous. So, meh.