The Repairer of Reputations
Encyclopedia
The Repairer of Reputations is a short story
published by Robert W. Chambers
in the collection The King in Yellow
in 1895
. The story is an example of Chambers' horror fiction
, and is one of the stories in the collection which contains the motif of the Yellow Sign
and the King in Yellow.
in the year 1920, 25 years in the future of the story's publication. It is told from the view of one Hildred Castaigne, a young man whose personality changed drastically following a head injury sustained by falling from his horse. He was subsequently committed to an asylum
for treatment of insanity
by a Dr. Archer. Due to his accident, Castaigne is a prime example of an unreliable narrator
.
As related by Castaigne, the United States has apparently prospered in the meantime, significantly improving its infrastructure. The rise of a new aristocratic elite in the United States has reduced the influence and immigration of foreigners, and this is particularly evident in the case of Jews. Suicide
has been legalized, and has been made generally and readily accessible in the newly established "Government Lethal Chambers" being rapidly rolled out across other towns and cities.
While still recovering from his accident, Castaigne obtained and read The King In Yellow, a false document
within the story which is represented as a universally censored
play
which deeply disturbed him. Once a wealthy dilettante and affable man-about-town, after his accident Castaigne became an eccentric recluse who spent his days poring over old books and maps and associating with a more eccentric character, a Mr. Wilde, the "Repairer of Reputations" of the story's title.
Wilde claims to be the architect of a vast conspiracy which uses, amongst other devices, blackmail to influence and command powerful men whose reputations the conspiracy has saved from scandal. Hildred imagines that, with Wilde's help, he will become the heir of the "Last King" of "The Imperial Dynasty of America," which Wilde says is descended of a lost kingdom from distant stars in the Hyades
. However, Castaigne perceives his cousin Louis standing before him in the line of succession, thus he plans to force Louis to abdicate his claim to the throne, accept exile
, and never marry.
Louis, who believes that Hildred is still mentally ill, humours him by agreeing to abdicate his claim, but becomes angry when Hildred insists that Louis cannot marry his fiancee, Constance Hawberk. Hildred shocks Louis by claiming that he has murdered Dr. Archer and had Constance assassinated. When Hildred runs back to the apartment of Mr. Wilde, he finds that Wilde's feral cat has torn out his throat, utterly wrecking his plans to conquer the United States with the help of Wilde's conspiracy. The police arrive, and Hildred sees Constance crying as he is dragged away. It is unknown whether or not Hildred actually committed any murders.
The story ends with a note that Hildred Castaigne died in an asylum for the criminally insane.
where one (or more) of the fundamental rules of short story
telling is broken in some way, often resulting in what most readers would consider "experimental literature
." In the case of "The Repairer of Reputations," Chambers all but invites the reader to doubt every single detail the unreliable narrator
relates. The rule of story narration which Chambers breaks in "anti-story" fashion is basic contract between a normal storyteller
and the reader, which is that the narrator
is relating something that is both the "truth
" (even given the "suspension of disbelief
" required for much of fiction) and interesting. He makes this clear at a point in the story when Hildred removes his imperial
"crown
" from a "safe
," which Louis dismisses as a "biscuit box" while showing impatience at the unnecessary wait for the supposed minutes it takes the "time lock
" to cycle.
Once the reader latches on to the notion that Hildred is reporting virtually everything except the other character's names in a highly distorted fashion, the entire tale takes on a Through the Looking-Glass
quality as the reader is reduced to fits of guesswork as to what every stated observation might really represent. Hildred’s reporting of 1920s
New York City
includes many dubious details such as Louis's involvement in the daily Prussian-style military parades (police
walking a patrol
?), suicide booths (entrances to a subway station? a telephone booth
?), Mr. Wilde's list of conspiracies (political) with their Byzantine complexity
(almost certainly fake
) and even the threat posed by Mr. Wilde's supposedly dangerous cat. All that Hildred claims about the future Imperial
North America
is called into question, vitiating the notion that it is an accurate vision of things to come. Even the climax of the story is open for the reader to try to interpret: did the wild cat
kill Mr. Wilde, or did Hildred commit homicide
in an act he does not care to remember? Or is Mr. Wilde even really dead? The reader is left with far more questions than answers by this dark tale.
There is some mystery about whether the futuristic date is part of Hildred’s delusions, since some details in the story appear to contradict the idea of the year being 1920. Castaigne writes that the statue of Garibaldi, a “monstrosity”, has been replaced by one of Peter Stuyvesant
; yet in the story “The Yellow Sign”, which is set post-“Repairer”, the Garibaldi statue in back in situ. Thomas the Cockney bellboy in “The Yellow Sign” has fought at the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir in 1882. He would be in his fifties or sixties post-1920, yet he is clearly a young man. Hildred’s cousin Louis Castaigne is born in 1877 and so would be 42 in 1920: rather old for the young Constance Hawberk, and perhaps for winning promotion to army captain. Hildred is described as a young man yet he has been at school with Louis. The allusion in the story to St Francis Xavier’s “new spire” is ambiguous. Does it refer to the church itself, at 30th West 16th Street, which opened in 1882, or merely the spire?
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
published by Robert W. Chambers
Robert W. Chambers
Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.-Biography:He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers , a famous lawyer, and Caroline Chambers , a direct descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of Providence, Rhode Island...
in the collection The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W. Chambers and published in 1895. The stories could be categorized as early horror fiction or Victorian Gothic fiction, but the work also touches on mythology, fantasy, mystery, science fiction and romance...
in 1895
1895 in literature
The year 1895 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* Carlyle's House in Chelsea opens to the public.* Robert Frost marries Elinor Miriam White.* Ernest Thayer recites his poem, Casey at the Bat, at a Harvard class reunion....
. The story is an example of Chambers' horror fiction
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
, and is one of the stories in the collection which contains the motif of the Yellow Sign
Yellow Sign
The Yellow Sign is a fictional symbol or glyph, first described in Robert Chambers' book of horror short stories The King in Yellow .-The King in Yellow:The King in Yellow never fully describes the shape and purpose of the Yellow Sign...
and the King in Yellow.
Plot
The story is set in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in the year 1920, 25 years in the future of the story's publication. It is told from the view of one Hildred Castaigne, a young man whose personality changed drastically following a head injury sustained by falling from his horse. He was subsequently committed to an asylum
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
for treatment of insanity
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
by a Dr. Archer. Due to his accident, Castaigne is a prime example of an unreliable narrator
Unreliable narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. This narrative mode is one that can be developed by an author for a number of reasons, usually...
.
As related by Castaigne, the United States has apparently prospered in the meantime, significantly improving its infrastructure. The rise of a new aristocratic elite in the United States has reduced the influence and immigration of foreigners, and this is particularly evident in the case of Jews. Suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
has been legalized, and has been made generally and readily accessible in the newly established "Government Lethal Chambers" being rapidly rolled out across other towns and cities.
While still recovering from his accident, Castaigne obtained and read The King In Yellow, a false document
False document
A false document is a literary technique employed to create verisimilitude in a work of fiction. By inventing and inserting documents that appear to be factual, an author tries to create a sense of authenticity beyond the normal and expected suspension of disbelief for a work of art...
within the story which is represented as a universally censored
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
which deeply disturbed him. Once a wealthy dilettante and affable man-about-town, after his accident Castaigne became an eccentric recluse who spent his days poring over old books and maps and associating with a more eccentric character, a Mr. Wilde, the "Repairer of Reputations" of the story's title.
Wilde claims to be the architect of a vast conspiracy which uses, amongst other devices, blackmail to influence and command powerful men whose reputations the conspiracy has saved from scandal. Hildred imagines that, with Wilde's help, he will become the heir of the "Last King" of "The Imperial Dynasty of America," which Wilde says is descended of a lost kingdom from distant stars in the Hyades
Hyades (star cluster)
The Hyades is the nearest open cluster to the Solar System and one of the best-studied of all star clusters. The Hipparcos satellite, the Hubble Space Telescope, and infrared color-magnitude diagram fitting have been used to establish a distance to the cluster's center of ~153 ly...
. However, Castaigne perceives his cousin Louis standing before him in the line of succession, thus he plans to force Louis to abdicate his claim to the throne, accept exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
, and never marry.
Louis, who believes that Hildred is still mentally ill, humours him by agreeing to abdicate his claim, but becomes angry when Hildred insists that Louis cannot marry his fiancee, Constance Hawberk. Hildred shocks Louis by claiming that he has murdered Dr. Archer and had Constance assassinated. When Hildred runs back to the apartment of Mr. Wilde, he finds that Wilde's feral cat has torn out his throat, utterly wrecking his plans to conquer the United States with the help of Wilde's conspiracy. The police arrive, and Hildred sees Constance crying as he is dragged away. It is unknown whether or not Hildred actually committed any murders.
The story ends with a note that Hildred Castaigne died in an asylum for the criminally insane.
"Anti-Story" Nature of the Work
Robert Chambers produced in this piece an early version of what has since become called the "anti-story." This is a type of fiction writingFiction writing
Fiction writing is any kind of writing that is not factual. Fictional writing most often takes the form of a story meant to convey an author's point of view or simply to entertain...
where one (or more) of the fundamental rules of short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
telling is broken in some way, often resulting in what most readers would consider "experimental literature
Experimental literature
Experimental literature refers to written works - often novels or magazines - that place great emphasis on innovations regarding technique and style.-Early history:...
." In the case of "The Repairer of Reputations," Chambers all but invites the reader to doubt every single detail the unreliable narrator
Unreliable narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. This narrative mode is one that can be developed by an author for a number of reasons, usually...
relates. The rule of story narration which Chambers breaks in "anti-story" fashion is basic contract between a normal storyteller
Storyteller
- Films and television :* Narradores de Javé , a 2003 Brazilian film by Eliane Caffé* The Storyteller , a 2009 American horror film* The Storyteller, a 1988 television series by Jim Henson...
and the reader, which is that the narrator
Narrator
A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...
is relating something that is both the "truth
Truth
Truth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with fact or reality. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common usage, it also means constancy or sincerity in action or character...
" (even given the "suspension of disbelief
Suspension of disbelief
Suspension of disbelief or "willing suspension of disbelief" is a formula for justifying the use of fantastic or non-realistic elements in literary works of fiction...
" required for much of fiction) and interesting. He makes this clear at a point in the story when Hildred removes his imperial
Empire
The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....
"crown
Crown (headgear)
A crown is the traditional symbolic form of headgear worn by a monarch or by a deity, for whom the crown traditionally represents power, legitimacy, immortality, righteousness, victory, triumph, resurrection, honour and glory of life after death. In art, the crown may be shown being offered to...
" from a "safe
Safe
A safe is a secure lockable box used for securing valuable objects against theft or damage. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face removable or hinged to form a door. The body and door may be cast from metal or formed out of plastic through blow molding...
," which Louis dismisses as a "biscuit box" while showing impatience at the unnecessary wait for the supposed minutes it takes the "time lock
Time lock
A time lock is a part of a locking mechanism commonly found in bank vaults and other high-security containers. The timelock is a timer designed to prevent the opening of the safe or vault until it reaches 0, even if the correct combination are known...
" to cycle.
Once the reader latches on to the notion that Hildred is reporting virtually everything except the other character's names in a highly distorted fashion, the entire tale takes on a Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of literature by Lewis Carroll . It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
quality as the reader is reduced to fits of guesswork as to what every stated observation might really represent. Hildred’s reporting of 1920s
1920s
File:1920s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Sean Hogan during the Irish Civil War; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the 18th amendment, which made alcoholic beverages illegal throughout the entire decade; In...
New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
includes many dubious details such as Louis's involvement in the daily Prussian-style military parades (police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
walking a patrol
Patrol
A patrol is commonly a group of personnel, such as police officers or soldiers, that are assigned to monitor a specific geographic area.- Military :...
?), suicide booths (entrances to a subway station? a telephone booth
Telephone booth
A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box or telephone box is a small structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience. In the USA, Canada and Australia, "telephone booth" is used, while in the UK and the rest of the Commonwealth it is a "telephone...
?), Mr. Wilde's list of conspiracies (political) with their Byzantine complexity
Byzantine complexity
Byzantine complexity is a phrase used to refer to anything overly and unnecessarily complex; so complex as to be completely beyond understanding. This term often also connotes that it is not worth understanding.-History:...
(almost certainly fake
Fake
Fake means not real.Fake may also refer to:In music:* Fake , a Swedish synthpop band active in the 1980s*Fake?, a Japanese rock band* Fake , 2010 song by Ai featuring Namie Amuro...
) and even the threat posed by Mr. Wilde's supposedly dangerous cat. All that Hildred claims about the future Imperial
Empire
The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....
North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
is called into question, vitiating the notion that it is an accurate vision of things to come. Even the climax of the story is open for the reader to try to interpret: did the wild cat
Wild cat
The wildcat is a small cat with several subspecies and a very broad distribution, found throughout most of Africa, Europe, and southwest and central Asia into India, China, and Mongolia. It is a hunter of small mammals, birds, and other creatures of a similar or smaller size. Sometimes included is...
kill Mr. Wilde, or did Hildred commit homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
in an act he does not care to remember? Or is Mr. Wilde even really dead? The reader is left with far more questions than answers by this dark tale.
There is some mystery about whether the futuristic date is part of Hildred’s delusions, since some details in the story appear to contradict the idea of the year being 1920. Castaigne writes that the statue of Garibaldi, a “monstrosity”, has been replaced by one of Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant , served as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664, after which it was renamed New York...
; yet in the story “The Yellow Sign”, which is set post-“Repairer”, the Garibaldi statue in back in situ. Thomas the Cockney bellboy in “The Yellow Sign” has fought at the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir in 1882. He would be in his fifties or sixties post-1920, yet he is clearly a young man. Hildred’s cousin Louis Castaigne is born in 1877 and so would be 42 in 1920: rather old for the young Constance Hawberk, and perhaps for winning promotion to army captain. Hildred is described as a young man yet he has been at school with Louis. The allusion in the story to St Francis Xavier’s “new spire” is ambiguous. Does it refer to the church itself, at 30th West 16th Street, which opened in 1882, or merely the spire?
Characters
- Hildred Castaigne: The protagonist of the story, Hildred's character is much changed after sustaining a head injury and reading The King In Yellow during his convalescence. Hildred spends much of his time poring over old books; he never mentions work and appears to be independently wealthy. Hildred is a classic example of an unreliable narratorUnreliable narratorAn unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. This narrative mode is one that can be developed by an author for a number of reasons, usually...
, as he often comments that other people appear to be humouring him or treating things he regards as very important as inconsequential or nonexistent. - Louis Castaigne:"The King" Hildred's cousin, a military officer. Louis does not share his cousin's intellectualism or ambition, and is mainly focused on his love for Hawberk's daughter, Constance. Louis is horrified to find that Hildred has been reading The King in Yellow, but appears to make an effort to humour Hildred's eccentricities and strange behaviour.
- Hawberk: An armourer, Hawberk fashions and repairs antique bits of armour in a little shop below Mr. Wilde's. Castaigne and Mr. Wilde both believe that Hawberk is secretly the exiled MarquisMarquessA marquess or marquis is a nobleman of hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The term is also used to translate equivalent oriental styles, as in imperial China, Japan, and Vietnam...
of Avonshire (a fictional shire in EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
). Hawberk is noticeably shaken when Castaigne obliquely implies this in conversation. Hawberk's name likely comes from the word "hauberkHauberkA hauberk is a shirt of chainmail. The term is usually used to describe a shirt reaching at least to mid-thigh and including sleeves. Haubergeon generally refers to a shorter variant with partial sleeves, but the terms are often used interchangeably.- History :The word hauberk is derived from the...
," meaning a shirt of mail. - Constance Hawberk: Hawberk's daughter, a beautiful girl engaged to Louis Castaigne.
- Mr. Wilde: A bizarre and eccentric character, Mr. Wilde, who is deformed,lives in a dingy office above Hawberk's shop, where his door advertises him as a "Repairer of Reputations." Mr. Wilde is badly scarred and mangled, having lost his ears and several fingers, and lives with a vicious feral cat who continuously attacks him. Although his sanity is questionable, the narrator treats Wilde as a genius who is a living library of valuable information and believes he holds powerful men under his sway.