| 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).
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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 reviews &
summeries of his books, go to: |
