Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Scottish essayist, poet and author of fiction and travel books,
known especially for his novels of adventure. Characteristic for Stevenson's
novels is power of invention, psychological depth, and skillful use of
horror and supernatural elements. Arguing against realism, Stevenson underlined
the "nameless longings of the reader", the desire for experience.
"But we are so fond of life that we have no leisure to entertain the
terror of death. It is a honeymoon with us all through, and none of the
longest. Small blame to us if we give our whole hearts to this glowing
bride of ours, to the appetities, to honour, to the hungry curiosity of
the mind, to the pleasure of the eyes in nature, and the pride of our own
nimble bodies." (from 'Aes Triplex')
Stevenson was born in Edinburgh as the son of Thomas Stevenson,
joint-engineer to the Board of Northern Lighthouses. Since his childhood
Stevenson suffered from tuberculosis and as an adult there were times when
he could not wear a jacket for fear of bringing on a haemorrhage of the
lung. In 1867 he entered Edinburgh University to study engineering, but
changed to law and in 1875 he was called to the Scottish bar. During these
years his first texts were published in The Edinburgh University Magazine
(1871) and The Portofolio (1873).
Among Stevenson's own early favorite books, which influenced his imagination
and thinking, were Shakespeare's Hamlet, Dumas's adventure tale of the
elderly D'Artagan, Vicomte de Bragelone, and Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass,
"a book which tumbled the world upside down for me, blew into space a thousand
cobwebs of genteel and ethical illusion, and having thus shaken my tabernacle
of lies, set me back again upon a strong foundation of all the original
and manly virtues." (from Reading in Bed, ed. by Steven Gilbar, 1995) Also
Montaigne's Essais and the Gospel according to St. Matthew were very important
for him.
Instead of practicing law, Stevenson devoted himself into writing travel sketches, essays, and short stories for magazines. An account of his canoe tour of France and Belgium was published in 1878 as AN INLAND VOYAGE, and TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY IN THE CERVENNES appeared next year. In 1879 Stevenson moved to California with Fanny Osbourne, whom he had met in France. They married in 1880, and after a brief stay at Calistoga, which was recorded in THE SILVERADO SQUATTERS (1883), they returned to Scotland, and then moved often in search of better climates.
Wealth I ask not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I ask, the heaven above
And the road below me.
(from Songs of Travel)
Stevenson gained first fame with the romantic adventure story
TREASURE ISLAND, which appeared in 1883. Among his other popular works
are KIDNAPPED (1886), THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1886),
and MASTER OF BALLANTRAE (1889). He also contributed to various periodicals,
including The Cornhill Magazine and Longman's Magazine, where his best-known
article 'A Humble Remonstrance' was published in 1884. It was a replay
to Henry James's 'The Art of Fiction' and started a lifelong friendship
between the two authors. Stevenson saw that the novel is a selection of
and reorganization of certain aspects of life - "life is monstrous, infinite,
illogical, abrupt and poignant; a work of art, in comparison, is neat,
finite, self-contained, rational, flowing and emasculate."
From the late 1880s Stevenson lived with his family in the South Seas,
in Samoa. He enjoyed a period of comparative good health and literary productivity
and was known as 'Tusitala' or 'Teller of the Tales'. Fascinated by the
Polynesian culture, Stevenson wrote several letters to The Times on the
islanders' behalf and published novels THE BEACH OF FALESÁ (1893)
and THE EBB-TIDE (1894), which condemned the European colonial exploitation.
Stevenson died on December 3, 1894, in Vailima, Samoa. His last work,
WEIR OF HERMISTON (1896), was left unfinished. However, the story about
intergenerational power clashes is considered his masterpiece. Stevenson's
best-known work of horror, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
has since his death inspired several sequels by other hands, including
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes by Loren D. Estelman (1979), Jekyll, Alias Hyde:
A Variation by Donald Thomas (1988), The Jekyll Legacy by Robert Bloch
and Andre Norton (1990) and Mary Reilly by Valrie Matin (1990).
For further reading: Robert Louis Stevenson by Frank Swinnerton (1915);
Robert Louis Stevenson and the Fiction of Adventure by Robert Kiely (1964);
Robert Louis Stevenson and Romantic Tradition by Edwin M. Eigner (1966);
Robert Louis Stevenson: A Life Study by Jenni Calder (1980); Definitive
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Companion by H.M. Geduld (1983); Robert Louis Stevenson
by Frank McLynn (1993); A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion: A Guide to
the Novels, Essays and Short Stories by J.R. Hammond (1984); The Edinburgh
Literary Guide by Andrew Lownie (1992); Robert Louis Stevenson: A Biography
by Frank McLynn (1993) - Museums: Robert Louis Stevenson's childhood home,
17 Heriot Row, Edinburgh; The Writers' Museum, Lady Stair's Close, Lawnmarket
- Note: Stevenson's poem from the Treasure Island ("Fifteen men on the
dead man's chest / Yo-ho-ho, and the bottle of rum!/ Drink and the devil
had done for the rest - Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!) could originally
be "Fifteen men on the Dead Man's Chest... referring to a Caribbean Island
Dead Chest. According to a tale, the notorious pirate Edward Teach left
fifteen men on the island of Dead Man's Chest, with a bottle of rum and
a sword.
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) - the mystery of Jekyll
and Hyde is gradually revealed through the narratives of Mr Enfield, Mr
Utterson, Dr Lanyon and Jekyll's butler Poole. To separate the good and
evil aspects of his nature, Jekyll has invented a transforming drug. His
evil self takes the form of the repulsive Mr Hyde, who commits a murder.
Jekyll's supplies of drugs run out and he finds himself slipping involuntarily
into being Hyde. Jekyll kills himself, the body discovered in his sanctum
is Hyde's but the confession left behind reveals the truth.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted
among others into screen over 20 times. The story of double personality
and metamorphosis appealed strongly to Victorian readers, with its references
to Darwinism and colonial control of non-white world. The novel was partly
based on Stevenson's and W.E. Henley's play DEACON BRODIA (1880), where
an Edinburgh councilor is publicly respectable person but privately a thief
and rakehell. The basic theme of true identity have attracted such writers
as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein, 1818), Hans Christian Andersen (The Ugly
Duckling, 1845), Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment, 1866), Bram
Stoker (Dracula, 1897), Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis, 1915).
Treasure Island (1883) - appeared first serialized in Young Folks 1881-82.
The central character is Jim Hawkins, whose mother keeps an inn near the
coast in the West Country. Jim meets an old pirate, Billy Bones, who has
in his possession a map showing the location of Captain Flint's treasure.
Bones is dogged by his former confederates, but Jim outwits them and takes
the map to Squire Trelawney. They sail with Dr Livesey and Captain Smollett
for Treasure Island. Jim discovers that the crew includes pirates, led
by Long John Silver. After several adventures the pirates are defeated,
Jim befriends with Long John, and the treasure is found.
Selected bibliography:
* ROADS, 1873
* AN INLAND VOYAGE, 1878
* EDINBURGH, 1879
* TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY IN THE CÉVENNES, 1879
* DEACON BRODIE, 1880 (with W.E. Henley)
* VIRGINIBUS PUERISQUE, 1881
* FAMILIAR STUDIES OF MEN AND BOOKS, 1882
* NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS, 1882
* THE STORY OF A LIE, 1892
* THE SILVERADO SQUATTERS, 1883
* ISLAND NIGHT'S ENTERTAINMENT, §893
* TREASURE ISLAND, 1883 - Merirosvon testamentti / Aarresaari - see:
Robinsonade Daniel Defoe - noteworthy films: 1934, dir. by Victor Fleming,
1950; dir. by Byron Haskin
* A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES, 1885 - Lapsen runotarha
* MORE NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS, 1885
* PRINCE OTGTO, 1885
* THE BODY-SNATCHER, 1895
* KIDNAPPED, 1886 - Ihmisryöstö
* STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MISTER HYDE, 1886 - Tohtori Jekyll
ja Mr. Hyde - noteworthy films: 1920 (Der Januskopf), dir F.W, Murnau;
1931, dir. by Rouben Mamoulian; 1941; dir. by Victor Fleming; 1958 (Le
testament du docteur Cordelier), dir. by Jean Renoir; 1963 (The Nutty Professor),
dir. by Jerry Lewis; 1971 (Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde), dir. by Roy Ward
Baker
* THE MERRY MEN AND OTHER TALES AND FABLES, 1887
* THE MISADVENTURES OF JOHN NICHOLSON, 1887
* MEMOIRS AND PORTRAITS, 1887
* UNDERWOODS, 1887
* THE BLACK ARROW: A TALE OF THE TWO ROSES, 1888 - Musta nuoli
* THE WRONG BOX, 1889
* MASTER OF BALLANTRAE, 1889 - Veljekset - film 1953, dir. by William
Keighley
* BALLADS, 1890
* ACROSS THE PLAINS, 1892
* BEAU AUSTIN, 1892
* THREE PLAYS, 1892
* THE WRECKER, 1892
* A FOOTNOTE TO HISTORY, 1892
* CATRIONA / DAVID BALFOUR, 1893 - suomennettu, jatkoa teokseen Ihmisryöstö,
suomennettu yhteisnimellä David Balfourin seikkailut
* ISLAND NIGHT'S ENTERTAINMENTS, 1893
* THE BEACH OF FALESÁ, 1893
* THE EBB-TIDE, 1894
* THE AMATEUR EMIGRANT, 1895
* VAILIMA LETTERS, 1895
* IN THE SOUTH SEAS, 1896
* WEIR OF HERMISTON, 1896
* ADMIRAL GUINEA, 1897 (with W.E. Henley)
* ST. IVES, BEING THE ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH PRISONER IN ENGLAND, 1897
(completed by Arthur Quiller-Couch)
* TRAVELS AND ESSAYS, 1900
* IN THE SOUTH SEAS, 1900
* TALES AND FANTASIES, 1905
* THRAWN JANET; MARKHEIM, 1906
* THE LETTERS OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, 1911 (4 vols.)
* FABLES, 1914
* THE WAIF WOMAN, 1916
* MARKHEIM, 1925
* THE STORIES OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, 1928
* THE MEDIEVAL TALES, 1929
* THE TALES OF TUSITALA, 1946
* SELECTED WRITINGS OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, 1947
* TALES AND ESSAYS, 1950
* GREAT SHORT STORIES OF ROBERT LOUIS STVENSON, 1951
* DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE AND OTHER TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL, 1963
* FROM SCOTLAND TO SILVERADO, 1966
* THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES, 1969
* THE SUICIDE CLUB, 1970
* THE SUPERNATURAL SHORT STORIES OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVNSON, 1976
* THE BODY SNATCHER AND OTHER STORIES, 1988
* THE COMPLETE SHORTER FICTON, 1991
* STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE AND OTHER STORIES, 1992
Suomeksi on myös ilmestynyt 1998 Stevensonilta esseekokoelma Kävelyretkistä.
(c) 2000
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