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Robert Louis Stevenson

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Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (1850-1894) was born in Edinburgh on the 13 November 1850. His father and grandfather were both successful engineers who built many of the lighthouses that dotted the Scottish coast, whilst his mother came from a family of lawyers and church ministers. A sickly boy whose mother was also often unwell, Stevenson spent much of his childhood with the family nurse, Alison Cunningham. She told him many ghost stories and supernatural tales which seem to resonate throughout Stevenson's later fiction, reappearing in several of his short-stories, such as 'The Body Snatchers', 'The Merry Men', and 'Thrawn Janet'. In 1867, Stevenson enrolled at Edinburgh University to study engineering. The choice of subject was influenced by Stevenson's father, who wished his son to continue the prestigious family tradition. Stevenson however had other ambitions, and even at this early stage, expressed a desire to write. He shortly changed courses and began to study law, but soon gave this up to concentrate on writing professionally, much to the displeasure of his father. By alberto (Ana Quiroga) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Stevenson married...
Read the essay: Robert Louis Stevenson by Charlotte Barrett
# Title Description Contributor
1 Ruffus The Dog - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1998)

Ruffus discovers his dark side as he portrays both the kind-hearted Dr. Ruffus and the nefarious...

# Essay Title Description Contributor
1 Victorian Gothic: An Introduction

In the time of early Victorian technology, steam-trains and the electric telegraph, many writers...

Julian Thompson
2 Victorian Poetry and Fiction

The years 1837-1901 in which Queen Victoria reigned were highly influential in the development...

Charlotte Barrett
3 Victorian Publishing History

During the nineteenth century, the population of England grew from 8.9 to 32.5 million. This...

Charlotte Barrett
4 Gothic Elements in 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'

The relationship between scientific discourse and the Victorian Gothic is greatly emphasised...

Charlotte Barrett
5 Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (1850-1894) was born in Edinburgh on the 13 November 1850. His...

Charlotte Barrett
6 Science and Religion

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, William Paley published Natural Theology (...

Charlotte Barrett
7 Spiritualism, Science and Atavism

In the Victorian era, Gothic fiction had ceased to be a dominant literary genre. However, the...

Charlotte Barrett
# Title Description Author
1 Treasure Island [Electronic resource] / Robert Louis Stevenson

ebook version of Treasure Island [Electronic resource] / Robert Louis Stevenson

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894
2 In the South Seas

ebook version of In the South Seas

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894
3 The wrecker

ebook version of The wrecker

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894
4 On the Origin of Species

Publisher info: London: John Murray, 1859.

Charles Darwin
5 The Merry Men and Other Tales

Collection of short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Publisher info: T. Nelson...

Robert Louis Stevenson
6 Supernatural Horror in Literature

Long essay by the celebrated horror writer H. P. Lovecraft surveying the field of horror fiction...

H.P. Lovecraft
7 Memories and portraits : memories of himself, selections from his notebook. Robert Louis Stevenson
8 Robert Louis Stevenson : his work and his personality

by Sidney Colvin, Edmund Gosse, Neil Munro [and others]
London : Hodder and...

Sidney Colvin, Edmund Gosse, Neil Munro [and others]
9 Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Publisher: London : Longmans, Green

Robert Louis Stevenson
# Resource Title Description Contributor
1 Robert Louis Stevenson

photograph of Robert Louis Stevenson (1870)

# Resource Title Description Contributor
1 Robert Louis Stevenson’s reading

Essay with images and links by Shafquat Towheed. Part of the OpenLearn unit 'History of reading...

Shafquat Towheed