Robert Louis Stevenson. Biography and bibliography
Robert Stevenson is one of the most famous writers, often considered the author of one book - the novel Treasure Island, a romantic and young adult work. Despite this, Stevenson was a controversial man, and his most famous novel is actually more profound than it might seem.
The influence of national culture on the future writer
Scotsman by birth, Scotsman by upbringing and Scotsman by national spirit - these are the characteristics that very accurately describe a person like Robert Louis Stevenson. The writer's biography confirms that Scottish culture and history had a huge influence on the formation of Stevenson as a person. A future writer was born in Edinburgh - cultural and political
On his mother's side, the future writer belonged to the old and famous family of Balfour, who came from noble clans of the border and lowland parts of Scotland.
Family history, his own pedigree, deep roots - these are the things that Robert Stevenson was keenly interested in. The biography indicates that, wherever he was, he always remained a true Scotsman. Even while in Polynesia, where the temperature never dropped below 40 degrees, he built a typical Scottish fireplace in his house.
Childhood and youth
Robert Louis Stevenson was the only child in the family. As a small child, he suffered a serious illness, which subsequently affected him for the rest of his days. Louis often had a fever, he was constantly coughing, and he was short of air. All common biographies indicate pulmonary tuberculosis or very severe problems with the bronchi. Sickness, pallor, weakness and thinness are things that Robert Stevenson suffered from all his life. The author's photos clearly confirm this.
The author remembers his childhood and youth as endless periods of fever, pain and insomnia. The boy was sent to school at the age of six, but due to his condition, his studies were not successful. Lewis changed several schools, personal teachers, and for some time studied at a prestigious school for children of famous and wealthy parents - the Edinburgh Academy. Obeying his father, he decides to continue the family business and enters where he studies engineering, in particular the construction of lighthouses.
Interest in literature
Engineering and lighthouse building were things that Robert Louis Stevenson was really interested in. His biography indicates that he was willing to engage in the practical part of his studies, which was carried out on construction sites. The program also included lowering in a spacesuit to the seabed, where it was possible to study the underwater terrain and rocks that served as the basis for the construction of the lighthouse.
Some time later, Lewis applied for participation in a competition at the Royal Scottish Society of Science, where he presented his poem “A New Kind of Flashing Light for Lighthouses,” for which he received a silver medal. Within two weeks, in a serious conversation with his father, Stevenson declares that he wants to quit engineering. The father was against literature, so it was decided that his son would become a lawyer. This option suited Louis. Firstly, being a lawyer gave him more free time, and secondly, Stevenson’s famous fellow countryman, Walter Scott, was also a lawyer, which did not prevent him from later becoming famous writer. Lewis passed all the exams and received the title of lawyer, but this was only confirmation that he was in fact a writer.
Beginning of literary activity
The writer Robert Stevenson first announced himself at the age of sixteen. At the expense of his father, a small book entitled “The Pentland Rebellion” was published. History page, 1666." Here the young author described two centuries of peasant uprisings in Scotland. This work was not famous, but the author’s interest in national history, as well as the desire to be objective and accurate.
The first serious work was Robert Stevenson's novel Roads. The name is very symbolic, because, despite the fact that Stevenson was sickly and weak, his vital needs and spiritual impulses forced him to travel a lot.
First travels
In 1876, Stevenson and his friends took a kayak trip along the rivers and canals of France and Belgium. The final destination was Paris, but the friends also stopped in riverside villages, rich in their history. had a huge influence on Stevenson. Returning home, he immediately began work on a description of his journey, which later turned into the work “Journey into the Inland”, and also influenced his subsequent work.
The author describes the process of travel itself, various funny and absurd situations that happened during the trip, describes the people, their characters and morals. At the same time, he does this easily and unobtrusively, allowing the reader to form his own opinion about everything. It was during this journey that Robert Stevenson met Fanny Osborne, who later became Fanny Stevenson.
Fanny
Lewis met Frances Matilda Osborne in one of the French villages at a time when she was interested in painting. Almost all biographers claim that this meeting was love at first sight. Fanny was ten years older than Lewis, married to a loser, had two children, and was seeking solitude after the death of her youngest child. They talked a lot, spent time together, and after breaking up they constantly corresponded.
A few years later, in 1879, Robert Stevenson received a letter from Fanny, the contents of which remained unknown to history. Presumably she was talking about her serious illness. Lewis's condition at that time was difficult: a prolonged illness, financial problems, a quarrel with his father, the words of friends who said that Fanny was a married woman. None of this stopped Lewis. He quickly got ready and headed to America, where Fanny lived at that time. The journey was long and difficult.
After arriving in America, he traveled for a long time on an immigrant train from New York to San Francisco. However, Fanny was not there; she moved to Monterrey. Lewis set off on another journey. He was riding alone on a horse. On the way, his condition deteriorated greatly and he lost consciousness. He was found by a local bear hunter who nursed Lewis, who had been on the edge of life and death for several days. Having gained strength, Stevenson finally reached Fanny.
Despite all the obstacles, in 1880 Stevenson married Fanny Osborne and returned home with his wife, her children and a huge store of knowledge, impressions and life experience. Fanny and her children accompanied Stevenson on his travels and were with him until his last days.
Type of traveler in Stevenson's works
Travel played a huge role in the author’s work. This theme was not new in literature, but other writers saw the heroic traveler differently from Robert Stevenson. The author's works describe a traveler who behaves illogically and imprudently. Such a traveler was most often an artist or writer. He does not seek any benefits and refuses rewards or additional privileges.
Stevenson started traditionally. The journey was depicted as a small and simple walk, during which all the idiocy of the average person is revealed. Later, other famous writers, including K. Jerome, used this idea in their work.
The experience gained on the first and subsequent voyages influenced literary activity author, including his most famous work - the novel “Treasure Island”.
"Treasure Island"
Treasure Island is undoubtedly Robert Louis Stevenson's most famous novel. The still unfinished work was published in a well-known children's magazine under a pseudonym, but did not bring popularity. Moreover, the editors of the magazine often received negative and even indignant responses. The novel was published as a separate book and with the real name of the author a year later. This time the novel was an undoubted success.
Despite the fact that the novel has a fairly simple plot and plot, like any adventure novel, it contains moments of tension. The big picture the author creates not by a detailed description of everyday situations, but by the very form of the narration. Stevenson makes heavy use of dialogue, which gives the plot a more active and dramatic feel.
Although the novel is considered a young adult romance, it has serious issues and themes at its core. In particular, we're talking about about the problem of contrasting characters, emotional experiences and the confrontation between good and evil.
"Cursed Janet"
Robert Louis Stevenson embodies his interest in the soul and essence of man in the work “Cursed Janet.” In this story, the author decided to combine the real and the fantastic, and also turn to what has always been dear to him - Scottish traditions and motifs. Despite the fact that the work is relatively small, in it the author managed to show very deeply human soul, her fears and experiences.
Thanks to the special form of narration, the author managed to make everything real in the story seem fantastic, and everything fantastic - real. At the same time, the story itself is completely logical and believable. The problem of mental experiences became so interesting to the author, he continues to reveal it further, in particular in the famous story “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"
The impetus for writing the story was Stevenson’s acquaintance with Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment, where the problems of human morality and morality were presented in a new way. The hero of the story - the smart, respectful, respectable Dr. Jekyll - as a result of an unsuccessful experiment, splits his personality and releases his ugly and evil double, Mr. Hyde.
Stevenson raises the problem of the purpose of life, the problem of freedom, choice, internal composure and lightness. The story was written in a form that was not expected from Stevenson, and caused general delight.
Novel "The Owner of Ballantrae"
This work by Lewis is considered one of the darkest, but it was in it that Stevenson reached the pinnacle of his skill. It was in this novel that he combined the two most important themes of his work: the confrontation between good and evil and an appeal to Scottish traditions and history. In the novel, he describes two brothers whose characters vividly embody these problems. The author tried to find the roots of these problems deeply, starting from national character and ending with puritanism in the country.
Robert Louis Stevenson - English writer Scottish origin. Born on November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh, in the family of an engineer. At baptism he received the name Robert Lewis Balfour, but in adulthood he abandoned it, changing his surname to Stevenson, and the spelling of his middle name from Lewis to Louis (without changing the pronunciation).
From his youth, Robert was inclined to study technology. After leaving school he entered the University of Edinburgh. Having chosen law, he received the title of lawyer, but he hardly ever practiced, since his state of health, on the one hand, and his first successes in the literary field, on the other, convinced him to prefer literature to the legal profession. In 1873–1879 he lived mainly in France on the meager earnings of a promising writer and rare money transfers from home, and became his own man in the “towns” of French artists. Stevenson's trips to France, Germany and his native Scotland date back to the same period, as a result of which his first two books of travel impressions appeared - An Inland Voyage (1878) and Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes, 1879). The “essays” written during this period were collected by him in the book “Virginibus Puerisque” (1881).
In the French village of Grez, famous for its collections and meetings of artists, Robert Lewis met Frances Mathilde (Vandegrift) Osborne, an American ten years older than him, who was interested in painting. After separating from her husband, she lived with her children in Europe. Stevenson fell deeply in love with her, and as soon as the divorce was obtained, on May 19, 1880, the lovers were married in San Francisco. Their living together was marked by Fanny's constant care for her sick husband. Stevenson became friends with her children, and subsequently his stepson (Samuel) Lloyd Osborne co-authored three of his books: Extraordinary Baggage (1889), Low Tide (1894), and Castaways (1892).
In 1880, Stevenson was diagnosed with tuberculosis. In search of a healing climate, he visited Switzerland, the south of France, Bournemouth (England) and, in 1887–1888, Saranac Lake in New York State. Partly due to poor health, partly to collect material for essays, Stevenson went on a yacht to the South Pacific with his wife, mother and stepson. They visited the Marquesas Islands, Tuamotu, Tahiti, Hawaii, Micronesia and Australia and purchased a plot of land in Samoa, deciding to settle in the tropics for a long time to save money. He named his possession Vailima (Pyatirechye). Striving for the closest possible communication with local residents, Stevenson took a deep part in their fate and appeared in print exposing the colonial administration - the novel “A Footnote to History: Eight Years” dates back to this period in his work. of Trouble in Samoa", 1893). Stevenson's protest, however, was only the protest of a romantic, but he was not forgotten by people.
The island's climate did him good: some of his best works were written in the spacious plantation house at Vailima. In the same house on December 3, 1894, he died suddenly. Samoan admirers buried him on the top of a nearby mountain. On the gravestone are inscribed words from his famous “Testament” (“Under the vast starry sky...”).
Stevenson's main contribution to literature is that he revived the adventure and historical novel in England. But with all the mastery of storytelling, he was unable to raise it to the heights at which these genres stood among his predecessors. For the most part, the author was interested in adventure for adventure’s sake; the deeper motives of an adventure novel, like Daniel Defoe’s, were alien to him, and in historical novel he refused to depict major social events, limiting himself to showing the adventures of heroes for which history serves only as an incidental background.
Success famous books Stevenson is partly explained by the fascination of the themes raised in them: pirate adventures in Treasure Island (1883), horror fiction in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 1886. and childish enthusiasm in A Child's Garden of Verses, 1885. However, in addition to these merits, it should be noted the rapid character drawing of John Silver, the density of syllables in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, sparkles of irony in A Child's Flower Garden of Verses , testifying to the versatility of his talent.
He began his literary activity with essays, which were extremely valued at that time, written in a relaxed form, and never changed this genre. His articles on writers and the art of writing are “A Humble Remonstrance” (1884), “Dreams” (1888), “On Some Technical Elements of Style in Literature” (1885) and others - bring him closer to G. James. In the travelogues “Travel with a Donkey,” “The Silverado Squatters” (1883) and “In South Seas"(In the South Seas, 1890) masterfully recreated the local color, and the latter are of particular interest to researchers. Stevenson's little-known literary anecdotes rank among the most caustic, witty and laconic in English literature. He wrote poems occasionally and rarely took them seriously.
To enter the world of some of Stevenson's works - Kidnapped (1886) and its sequel Catriona (1893; magazine version David Balfour), The Master of Ballantrae (1889) , “The Merry Men” (1882), “Thrawn Janet” (1881) - the reader will need at least a superficial acquaintance with the language and history of Scotland. Almost all of them - with the exception of "Cursed Janet", a little gem in the ghost story genre - are unevenly written. “The Black Arrow” (1883) and “St. Ives” (1897) can be classified as obvious failures. "Uncanny Baggage" and "The Suicide Club" (1878), as well as the stories that follow them (some co-written by Fanny), will not be to everyone's taste. However, “The Beach of Falesa” is one of best stories, ever written about the South Seas, and the island fantasies “The Bottle Imp” (1891) and “The Isle of Voices” (The Isle of Voices, 1893) that were often published with him are extremely entertaining. It is generally accepted that Weir of Hermiston (1896) could have become one of the great novels of the 19th century, but Stevenson managed to complete only a third of the book.
2738
13.11.14 11:49
Folk musician and singer Helavisa admits that she became “sick” of Celtic legends, Scotland and Ireland for the rest of her life after reading Stevenson’s “Briar Honey” in her early childhood. It would be more correct to call the ballad “Heather Ale,” but we are already accustomed to the previous title (and to Marshak’s translation). The writer himself did not take his poetry very seriously. But in vain! How in vain we, when we say “Robert Louis Stevenson,” only remember “Treasure Island.”
This is the same as considering the elder Dumas the author of only The Three Musketeers. But, in fairness, we note that the Scot became famous just after the publication of this book about pirates - precisely the book (the initial publication “with a continuation” in several magazine issues did not bring success).
Biography of Robert Louis Stevenson
Failed lawyer
Robert Lewis Balfour's father, Thomas Stevenson, was a major lighthouse specialist. On November 13, 1850, an heir was born into his family (when his son reaches adulthood, he will simply become Stevenson, abandoning his mother’s maiden name, Balfour).
The future writer spent his childhood and youth in Edinburgh, where he became a university student. It was assumed that Robert would continue his father’s work: he liked to tinker with technology, but the young man chose the lawyer’s path, which, however, he very easily and quickly changed to literary activity. He went on a long journey around his native country and Europe, the fruit of his travels was travel notes.
Guardian angel
In one of the villages of France, Robert met the love of his life - the married American artist Frances Matilda (he simply called her “Fanny”) Vandergrift-Osborne. He was 30 years old, she was 40, but neither this nor the presence of a husband and two children stopped the Scot.
She took the divorce and became the wife and guardian angel of the sickly Stevenson (from childhood he was plagued by respiratory diseases - first croup, and then either bronchitis, or even tuberculosis).
The children (especially Lloyd) fell in love with their stepfather. The stepson was a co-author of some of the works, and the eldest Isabel became a kind of secretary to the new father - she wrote under his dictation.
"Pyatirechye"
As the illness worsened, the Stevensons began to move from place to place in search of a better climate for the head of the family.
Having toured the resorts of Switzerland, France, the USA, visited Tahiti, Hawaii, even Micronesia and Australia, they finally settled in Samoa. There Robert acquired land and named his estate “Pyatirechye”.
Local residents treated the strange settler very warmly - he always opposed cruel colonial policies and loved to tell various interesting stories to the natives.
It was this plantation house, which became the writer's last refuge, that saw his inspiration take off. The best and most famous works of the Scot were born here.
Even before his marriage, Stevenson managed to publish a series of stories about the Prince of Bohemia: “The Suicide Club”, “The Rajah’s Diamond”. Based on these books, we shot a multi-part film “The Adventures of Prince Florizel” (one of the most recent striking works of Oleg Dahl).
One day, seeing his stepson enthusiastically drawing a map of an island, Robert began to help him. This is how the sketches for “Treasure Island” were born. It’s probably not worth dwelling on the plot of this legendary novel (at first the author wanted to call it “The Ship’s Cook,” because the leader of the pirates, the treacherous John Silver, got a job as a cook on a ship going in search of treasure). Young Jim, along with a handful of friends, had to confront a pack of sea robbers. This book (written in 1883) is considered one of the best adventure novels for children.
Creepy duality and children's poems
Who among us hasn’t had goosebumps when describing the atrocities of the monster into which an ordinary medic turns! The hero's research has led him to the "dark side", but it seems that he is not really trying to fight his maniac alter ego. The story, the mystical and frightening “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” has also been filmed many times (like “Treasure Island”). Moreover, there are different variations “on the theme” (for example, the semi-parody film “Mr. Jekyll and Miss Hyde”).
Although the writer did not really like his poems, he still dared to publish the collection “Children’s Flower Garden of Poems” in 1885. The spontaneity, enthusiasm and elegant style of the works in this book speak of the undoubted poetic talent of the master.
Scottish motives
The “Kidnapped” and “Catriona” duologies are of interest, first of all, to those who are seriously passionate about the history and traditions of Scotland. They tell about the adventures of the heir to a large fortune, Belfort, who wanted to deprive him of his wealth.
But not everyone liked the story about the courageous Richard Shelton (the story “Black Arrow”). Some critics considered this work by the Scot to be a failure.
Experts say that the novel "Weir Germiston" would become greatest novel not only Stevenson, but the entire 19th century, but death prevented the writer - he managed to create only a third of the work.
He died easily and quickly - at the age of 44 he was killed by a stroke. Before dinner, Stevenson felt a sudden pain in his head and said, “What’s wrong with me?” and fell. The natives buried him with full honors on the top of Mount Weah.
The name Robert Louis Stevenson has been familiar to everyone since childhood who cannot imagine life without a book. The incredible and exciting adventures that await the heroes of his works at every turn have more than once forced readers to sit for hours on the pages of Treasure Island and Black Arrow. And although these works are considered the most famous in the writer’s bibliography, the list of Stevenson’s books is not limited to them.
Childhood and youth
The future writer was born in Edinburgh on November 13, 1850. The boy's father had an unusual profession - he was an engineer who designed lighthouses. From early childhood, the boy spent a lot of time lying in bed - serious diagnoses forced his parents to take care of their son.
Stevenson was diagnosed with croup and later consumption (pulmonary tuberculosis), which were often fatal in those days. Therefore, little Robert spent a lot of time in the “blanket country” - as the writer would later write about his childhood.
Perhaps constant restrictions and bed rest helped Robert Louis Stevenson’s imagination develop so much that he began to come up with imaginary adventures and trips that he could not make in life. In addition, the boy’s nanny cultivated his literary taste and sense of words by reading poems and telling fairy tales before bed.
Already at the age of 15, Robert Louis Stevenson completed his first serious work, called “The Pentland Rebellion.” Robert's father supported his son and published this book in 100 copies at his own expense in 1866.
Around the same time, Stevenson, despite his poor health, began traveling around his native Scotland and Europe and recording impressions and incidents from his trips. Later, these essays were published under the cover of the books “Roads” and “Journey into the Country.”
As he grew older, Robert Louis Stevenson entered the Edinburgh Academy, and then the University of Edinburgh. At first, the young man followed in his father’s footsteps and began studying engineering. However, he later moved to the Faculty of Law and in 1875 became a certified lawyer.
Literature
Stevenson's first serious work, which brought fame to the writer, was a story called “The Overnight of François Villon.” And already in 1878, the prose writer, while on another trip to France, completed a series of stories that were published as a single whole.
This collection was called “Suicide Club” and later became one of the most famous works Stevenson. “The Suicide Club”, as well as the series of stories “The Rajah’s Diamond”, were published in many literary magazines in Europe. Gradually, Stevenson's name became recognizable.
However, the writer gained serious fame in 1883, when perhaps Stevenson’s best novel, “Treasure Island,” was published. Like many works of genius, this book began with humorous stories with which Stevenson entertained his little stepson. Robert Lewis even drew a map of the imaginary island for the boy, which was printed almost unchanged in the preface to the publication.
Gradually, scattered episodes began to take shape into a full-fledged novel, and Stevenson sat down to write. The writer initially gave the book the title “The Ship's Cook,” but later changed it to “Treasure Island.” This work, as Stevenson admitted, reflected his impressions of the books of other authors - and. The first readers of the finished novel were the writer’s stepson and father, but soon other lovers of adventure literature started talking about the book.
The next from the writer’s pen was “Black Arrow”, in 1885 “Prince Otto” and the cult story “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” appeared. A year later, Robert Louis Stevenson completed work on another collection of stories, called “And Another Thousand and One Nights” (or “The Dynamite”).
It is noteworthy that Stevenson also wrote poetry, but treated poetic experiments as amateurishness and did not even try to publish them. But the writer nevertheless collected some of the poems under one cover and decided to publish them. This is how a collection of Stevenson’s poetry appeared, inspired by memories of his childhood years. The poems were published in Russian in 1920 and received the translated title “Children’s Flower Garden of Poems.” Later, the collection was reprinted several times and the original title was changed.
By that time, the Stevenson family, thanks to Treasure Island, was living comfortably. But, unfortunately, the author’s health made itself felt more and more. Doctors advised the writer to change the climate, and Robert Louis Stevenson moved from his home country to the Samoan Islands. Local residents, who were wary of the strangers at first, soon became regular guests in the hospitable home of this good-natured man.
Stevenson even got the nickname “leader-storyteller” - this is what the aborigines called the writer, whom he helped with advice. But the white colonialists did not like Robert Louis Stevenson for the free-thinking sentiments that the writer sowed in the minds of local residents.
And of course, the exotic atmosphere of the island could not help but be reflected in the storyteller’s works: the novels and stories “Evening Conversations on the Island”, “Catriona” (which became a continuation of “Kidnapped”, a novel published earlier), and “Saint Ives” were written in Samoa. The writer co-wrote some of his works with his stepson - “Uncanny Baggage”, “Shipwrecked”, “Ebb Tide”.
Personal life
The writer's first love was a lady named Kat Drummond, who worked as a singer in a night tavern. The ardent Stevenson, being an inexperienced young man, was so carried away by this woman that he was going to get married. However, the writer’s father did not allow his son to marry Kat, who, according to Stevenson Sr., was not suitable for this role.
Later, while traveling in France, Robert Louis Stevenson met Frances Matilda Osborne. Fanny - as Stevenson affectionately called his beloved - was married. In addition, the woman had two children and was 10 years older than Stevenson. It seemed that this could prevent lovers from being together.
At first, this is what happened - Stevenson left France alone, without his lover, mourning his failed personal life. But in 1880, Fanny finally managed to divorce her husband and marry the writer, who overnight became a happy husband and father. The couple had no children together.
Death
The island of Samoa became not only the writer’s favorite place, but also his final refuge. On December 3, 1894, Robert Louis Stevenson passed away. In the evening, the man went down to dinner as usual, but suddenly grabbed his head, struck by a blow. A few hours later the writer was no longer alive. The cause of the genius's death was a stroke.
There, on the island, the writer’s grave is still preserved. The Aborigines, truly saddened by the death of their hero and “leader-storyteller,” buried Robert Louis Stevenson on the top of a mountain called Wea, erecting a concrete tombstone on the grave.
In 1957, Soviet writer Leonid Borisov wrote a biography of Robert Louis Stevenson called Under the Flag of Catriona.
Bibliography
- 1883 - "Treasure Island"
- 1885 - "Prince Otto"
- 1886 - "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"
- 1886 - "Kidnapped"
- 1888 - "Black Arrow"
- 1889 - "Owner of Ballantrae"
- 1889 - "Uncanny Baggage"
- 1893 - "Shipwrecked"
- 1893 - "Catriona"
- 1897 - "St. Ives"
English literature
Robert Louis Stevenson
Biography
STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS (Stevenson, Robert Louis) (1850−1894), English writer of Scottish origin. Born 13 November 1850 in Edinburgh. After leaving school he entered the University of Edinburgh. Having chosen law, he received the title of lawyer, but hardly ever practiced.
In 1873-1879 he lived mainly in France on the meager earnings of a promising writer and rare money transfers from home, and became his own man in the “towns” of French artists. He made a canoe trip along the rivers of France, described in his first published book, An Inland Voyage (1878), and a hiking trip, described in Travels with a Donkey in the Cvennes (1879). In the village of Dreams, where artists gathered, he met Frances Matilda (Vandegrift) Osborne, an American ten years older than him, who was interested in painting. After separating from her husband, she lived with her children in Europe. Stevenson fell in love with her dearly, and as soon as the divorce was obtained, on May 19, 1880, the lovers were married in San Francisco. Their life together was marked by Fanny's constant care for her sickly husband. Stevenson became friends with her children, and subsequently his stepson (Samuel) Lloyd Osborne co-authored three of his books: The Wrong Box (1889), The Ebb-Tide (1894) and The Wrecker (1892).
In 1880, Stevenson was diagnosed with tuberculosis. In search of a healing climate, he visited Switzerland, the south of France, Bournemouth (England) and in 1887-1888 Saranac Lake in New York State. Partly due to poor health, partly to collect material for essays, Stevenson went on a yacht to the South Pacific with his wife, mother and stepson. They visited the Marquesas Islands, Tuamotu, Tahiti, Hawaii, Micronesia and Australia and purchased a plot of land in Samoa, deciding to settle in the tropics for a long time to save money. He named his possession Vailima (Pyatirechye).
The island's climate did him good: some of his best works were written in the spacious plantation house at Vailima. In the same house on December 3, 1894, he died suddenly. Samoan admirers buried him on the top of a nearby mountain. The words from his famous Testament (“Under the vast starry sky”) are inscribed on the tombstone.
The success of Stevenson's famous books is partly due to the fascination of the themes they cover: the pirate adventures of Treasure Island (1883), the horror fiction of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) and childish enthusiasm in A Child's Garden of Verses, 1885. However, in addition to these merits, it is worth noting the rapid character drawing of John Silver, the density of syllables in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, sparkles of irony in the Children's Flower Garden of Poems, testifying to the versatility of his talent.
He began his literary activity with essays, which were extremely valued at that time, written in a relaxed form, and never changed this genre. His articles on writers and the art of writing - A Humble Remonstrance (1884), Dreams (1888), On Some Technical Elements of Style in Literature, 1885, etc. - bring him closer to G. James. The travelogues Traveling with a Donkey, The Silverado Squatters (1883) and In the South Seas (1890) masterfully recreated local color, and the latter are of particular interest to researchers. Stevenson's little-known literary anecdotes rank among the most caustic, witty and laconic in English literature. He wrote poems occasionally and rarely took them seriously.
To enter the world of some of Stevenson's works - Kidnapped (1886) and its sequel Catriona (1893; magazine version by David Balfour), The Master of Ballantrae (1889), The Merry Men, 1882), Thrawn Janet (1881), - the reader will need at least a superficial acquaintance with the language and history of Scotland. Almost all of them - with the exception of Damned Janet, a little gem in the ghost story genre - are unevenly written. The Black Arrow (1883) and St. Ives (1897) are conspicuous failures. Error and The Suicide Club (1878), as well as the stories that follow them (some co-written by Fanny), will not be to everyone's taste. However, The Beach of Falesa is one of the best stories ever written about the South Seas, and the island fantasies often published with it, The Bottle Imp (1891) and The Isle of Voices, are extremely entertaining , 1893). It is generally accepted that Weir of Hermiston (1896) could have become one of the great novels of the 19th century, but Stevenson managed to complete only a third of the book.
Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh on November 13, 1850, the son of an engineer. After graduating from school, he entered the University of Edinburgh to study engineering, but later transferred to law, where in 1875 he received the title of lawyer.
The first book, called by the author “The Pentland Rebellion. Page of History, 1666,” was published in a circulation of only one hundred copies with his father’s money in 1866. During 1873-1879. Stevenson lives mainly in France, working as a writer for pennies. He is interested in painting and communicates with French artists. He travels a lot, which he describes in his books: 1878 - “Journey into the Inland”, 1879 - “Travel with a Donkey”.
In 1880 he married Frances Matilda (Vandegrift) Osborne, a divorced American woman with children who was interested in painting. Due to tuberculosis (diagnosed in 1880), the writer and his family often move, trying to find a suitable climate. They visit Switzerland, live a little in the south of France, England and America. Then, taking his wife, mother and stepson with him, Stevenson sets off on a yacht on a trip to the South Pacific. And in the end, they buy land on one of the Samoan islands and settle there for a long time, calling their estate Vailima (Pyatirechye).
In this large plantation house, the writer composed some of his best works. He died suddenly there on December 3, 1894. He was buried at the top of Mount Weah.
Stevenson's books are a great success, which can be explained by fascinating themes: pirate adventures ("Treasure Island"), science fiction, horror ("The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"), etc. But one also cannot fail to note the density of his style, sparkles of irony and how beautifully he depicted the characters of the heroes of his works and skillfully recreated the flavor of the places he wrote about.