Monatsarchive: Oktober 2017

The Master of Ballantrae – Robert Louis Stevenson

In his romance “The Master of Ballantrae” Stevenson has touched high-water mark. One is tempted to go beyond this and say that no modern work of fiction in the English language rises higher in the scale of literary merit than this. It is a story of human passion, of human weakness, of human love and hate. The scene of the tale, for the most part, is laid in and around the House of Durrisdeer, on the Solway shore. Four persons make up the dramatis persona, at the beginning of the story, and although others come into the drama as it wears on to its tragical close, it may be said that no … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson – Robert Louis Stevenson

This edition contains Stevenson’s letters, beginning with his student days at Edinburgh to the four years he spent in Samoa. R.L.S. was a prolific mail writer and sent letters to all kind of people from towns like Paris, San Francisco, Marseilles, Bournemouth and many more. Originally published in two volumes, all letters can now be found in this single volume.

The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson

Format: Paperback.

The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson.

ISBN: 9783849676353.

Available at amazon.com and other venues.

Biography of Robert Louis Stevenson  (from Wikipedia):

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson

In writing this, his third, book for boys, Stevenson turned from scenes and characters of pure invention to real people and places of a minor incident of Scottish history. The Appin murder, which provides the turning point of the story, has thereby become known to thousands who had not before heard of Alan Breck or the wrongly condemned James Stewart. The Highlands, in their unsettled state after the ’45, are made the setting for the adventures of the sober David Balfour, in whose prim ways and staid talk Stevenson found the contrast with the rebel spirits of the Highland Jacobites. Save for the change of year from 1752 to 175 1, he keeps very close … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

Island Nights’ Entertainments – Robert Louis Stevenson

The title of the volume which includes The Beach of Falesa, The Bottle Imp, and The Isle of Voices. The ‘Beach’ turns on the native dread of the spirit-devils in the woods, interwoven with which is the island life of natives and whites viewed through the eyes of a commonplace trade. It is a picture of the South Seas, very different from the idylls of Hermann Melville. In ‘The Bottle Imp’, the protagonist buys a bottle with an imp inside that grants wishes. However, the bottle is cursed; if the holder dies bearing it, their soul is forfeit to hell. ‘The Isle of Voices’ is a fairytale of magic treasure.

Island Nights’ Entertainments

An Inland Voyage – Robert Louis Stevenson

The “Inland Voyage” was as uneventful and prosaic a journey as could be made by a canoeist along the course of a sluggish canal and an insignificant river, yet the historian has invested every incident in his record with the deepest interest. It is a rare illustration of the fact that the traveller sees what he carries, with him the faculty for seeing. Mr. Stevenson has the penetrating and subtle insight of the philosopher, which discovers subjects for edifying reflection in the lightest affairs coming under his notice. With this keen and thoughtful power of observation, he has a talent for expression no less original and striking. Such as these are the pearls … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa – Robert Louis Stevenson

A great part of the last four years of Stevenson’s life was occupied, very unfortunately for his literary work, in an active share in Samoan politics. For some years before he began to travel in the Pacific, the islands in which he at last made his home, had been in a disturbed condition from causes partly arising from native differences, and partly from foreign interference. Before ever he had reached Samoa he had espoused the cause of the native race of Honolulu, and in February 1889 had written to ‘The Times’ crying against German aggressiveness in Samoa, displayed not only in relations with the natives, but … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...