Robert louis stevenson

(1850—1894)

R. L. Stevenson ['sti:vnsn] was born in Edinburgh. His father was a civil engineer. The boy's health was poor, and later on he often spoke about it in his poems:

When I was sick and lay a-bed, I had two pillows at my head, And all my toys beside me lay To keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so I watched my leaden soldiers go, With different uniforms and drills, Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets All up and down among the sheets; Or brought my trees and houses out, And planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still That sits upon the pillow-hill, And sees before him, dale and plain, The pleasant Land of Counterpane.

("The Land of Counterpane")

Stevenson studied law and engineering at the University of Edinburgh, but never practised them. Since childhood he had dreamt of literary career. His life was a heroic struggle with a lung disease, and he spent much time abroad. Stevenson's last years of life passed in Samoa [ээ'тоиэ]. Не loved the land and its oppres­sed people. When he died, he was carried to his grave by the natives who mourned for him as their friend and protector. A bronze tablet on his tomb bears the epitaph he wrote for himself:

Requiem

Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and let me lie.

Ill

Glad did I live and gladly die,

And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me: Here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor, home [гот sea, And the hunter home from,the hilt.

The charm of Stevenson's personality is reflected in his poems for children "A Child's Garden of Verse" (1885). These poems reveal a child's freshness, directness and naivety of thought. His other volumes of poetry are "The Underwoods" (1887), "Ballads" (1890) and "Songs of Travels" (1896).

Stevenson first won fame with the publication of a romance entitled 'Treasure Island". It was immediately popular with the public. "Treasure Island" was followed by the historical novels "The Black Arrow" (1888), "Kidnapped" (1886) and its sequel¹ "Catriona" [кэ'1пэпэ] (1893). "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1886) shows the battle of good and evil in man's heart. Stevenson is also the author of "The Master of Ballantrae" (1889), "The Wrong Box" (1889) and a number of mystery stories. At his death he was working on "Weir [wia] of Hermiston". This unfinished novel is considered to be the best of Stevenson's whole work.

Robert Louis Stevenson is generally referred to as a neo-roman-ticist Neo-Romanticism was a trend in literature which came into being at the end of the XIX century. The writers of this literary trend scorned their contemporary bourgeois society and turned to the past or described exotic travels and adventures.

The strong romantic streak in everything Stevenson wrote was conditioned by his dislike of the vulgar philistinism and narrow-mindedness of the middle-class way of living and thinking. He was attracted to the romance of adventure and freedom, of risky under­takings in lonely seas and exotic countries. He idealized the strong and brave men who went down to these lands in ships. In his novels Stevenson told his readers about life full of novelty, about high pas­sions and thrilling sensations and displayed his powers of concen­trated character study. His style was suited to the purpose of his story. He was a gifted and original writer, sensitive to the niceties of expression, a lover of words for their colour and sound. Steven­son considered art superior to life for art could create a new and better reality. It is obvious that the writer was influenced and re­sponded to the doctrine² of "art for art's sake", but he did not live up to this doctrine in his work.

¹ a story continuing an earlier one

² something that is taught as principles or beliefs of a party or a group of scientists, writers, etc.

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"Treasure Island" (1883) is the first of Stevenson's romances of adventure. This novel belongs to the class of books which are at once exciting for boys and fascinating for adults. It makes its appeal to the reader by the romantic situations, fascinating events and the most exciting adventures of the characters. "Treasure Is­land" is a story of a search for buried treasure. The hero of the novel is Jim Hawkins ['hoikinz]. It is he who tells the reader about his adventures. At the Admiral Benbow Inn an old sailor leaves a chest with some papers. Among the papers there is the map of Treasure Island. From this very moment Jim's adventures begin. He and his friends, Doctor Livesey and Squire Trelawney [tri'bmi] set out for the island. They outfit a ship, but there are some dangerous men in the crew. To make the matters worse, Long John Silver and his gang are also after the treasure. At the end of the story Jim returns home from the island with the treasure.