Selected Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson

By Robert Louis Stevenson

Book Overview

Millions of readers throughout the world continue to enjoy Treasure Island, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, A Child's Garden of Verses, and other books by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894). A celebrated author in many different fields of literature, Stevenson is also recognized as a highly engaging and prolific correspondent: he penned over 2,800 letters, which are contained in eight critically acclaimed volumes published by Yale University Press. In this book, 317 of Stevenson's most interesting and revealing letters represent each stage of his mature life. With a linking narrative and full annotation, Ernest Mehew sets the letters in the context of Stevenson's remarkable life.

Beginning with the days of his troubled youth in Edinburgh, Stevenson's letters go on to tell of his love for Frances Sitwell, a beautiful, older married woman; a reckless journey to California in pursuit of Fanny Osbourne, the woman who became his wife; their worldwide but vain search for a healthy place to live; and a period of adventure in the South Seas, where Stevenson wrote some of his best work and became passionately involved in Samoan life. The letters show the author's zest for living despite daunting illnesses, his struggles with his own writing, his literary tastes, and his affection for his friends. Stevenson writes in many moods, ranging from playful and witty to deeply serious. Better than any biography ever could, these letters in Stevenson's own words tell the real story of his life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300091249
• ISBN13: 9780300091243
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 640 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Tusitala's Letters

The " SELECTED LETTERS OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON " reads like a biography . It's a competent abridgment of Stevenson's correspondence published in eight volumes (1994-95), also by Yale University Press .

Henry James enjoyed hearing from RLS and so will you.

Some of the best writers of his time--Henry James, for one--looked forward eagerly to getting letters from Stevenson, as he traveled around the world, looking for a place that might improve his health. (From boyhood on, he suffered from severe lung problems.) Dip into this book at random, and you'll see why. Stevenson put himself into his letters unreservedly--there's a confidential tone of voice throughout them that's warmly appealing--and he is acutely perceptive on a wide range of subjects, including himself. Ernest Mehew has judiciously chosen the best of the letters, and arranged them to create a de facto autobiography. This is a book that every literate person--and particularly anyone interested in nineteenth century literature in English--should have close at hand.