The novelist Robert Louis Stevenson left behind a rich literary legacy. It is he who is the creator of the novel "Treasure Island" and the story with the long title "The Strange Story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Both of these works have been repeatedly filmed, including in the 21st century. Almost all of Stevenson's novellas, novellas and novels have a fascinating plot and vivid, memorable characters.
Stephenson's childhood and adolescence
Robert Stevenson was born in November 1850 in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital. Since childhood, he suffered from a certain serious illness (most likely, tuberculosis - at the time when he lived, it was impossible to make a correct diagnosis), because of which he had to spend many hours in a supine position in his bed.
Restrictions of this kind helped to develop Robert's imagination - he began to invent funny stories and adventures that could happen to him. The boy, in addition to everything, had a nanny who instilled in him a love of literature, reading folk tales, poems by Robert Burns, and so on.
At the age of fifteen, Robert Lewis wrote his first publicistic work - the historical essay "The Pentland Uprising". The father, after reading this essay, decided to please the teenager and published this work as a separate book at his own expense in 1866. The circulation, of course, was small - only 100 copies.
Stevenson after school and wedding with Fanny
Stevenson graduated from the Faculty of Law in 1875. But this education was not very useful for him - he practically did not work in his specialty.
In the second half of the seventies, the future writer lived mainly in France and, despite his health problems, traveled a lot to European countries. The impressions of these travels are reflected in two collections of travel notes - "A trip inland" and "Traveling with a donkey."
In 1876, in the French village of Greuze, Robert Lewis met the American artist Fanny Osborne. Fanny lived in Europe with her children separately from her husband, although she was not officially divorced. Stevenson was ten years younger than her, but this in no way prevented their love. And when Fanny still filed for a divorce from her former husband, the writer proposed to her. They married in San Francisco on May 19, 1880, after which they sailed to Great Britain.
Major literary works of Stevenson
The first significant literary work of Stevenson was the short story "The Lodgings of Francois Villon". It was published in 1877. And the next year, Robert Lewis published in the London magazine a collection of "Suicide Club", which describes the amazing adventures of Prince Florizel and his faithful companion, Colonel Gerardine. This collection was warmly received by critics.
In 1883, Stevenson wrote his best novel, Treasure Island. It all started with funny stories that Stevenson composed for his stepson - Lloyd (Fanny's child from her past husband). The writer even drew a map of a fictional island. Subsequently, it was transferred to the preface with practically no changes. It is interesting that at first the writer wanted to name the novel "The Ship's Chef", but then settled on a more successful title - "Treasure Islands".
The first edition of this novel as a separate book sold out with difficulty. But the second and third editions were, of course, successful - the work has a huge number of fans.
It is worth noting that in the same 1883 another Stevenson's novel "Black Arrow" was published, which takes the reader to Medieval England, during the War of the Roses (that is, in the second half of the 15th century).
In 1885, the public gets the opportunity to get acquainted with the novel "Prince Otto", on which the author worked intermittently for more than ten years, and in 1886 - with the story about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Writer on exotic islands
At some point, doctors recommended that the writer change the climatic conditions, and in 1888, Stevenson, together with his wife and children, went to travel to exotic places. It is known that it was during this trip that the writer worked on the novel The Master of Ballantrae (published in 1889).
In 1890, Stevenson settled on the Samoan Islands in the Pacific Ocean. At first, the locals were wary of strangers, but soon they began to visit the writer with pleasure. As a result, Stevenson was even given the respectful nickname "chief storyteller." In Samoa, Stevenson wrote the novels Saint Ives and Ekaterin, as well as the collection Evening Talks on the Island, which includes several stories.
The last novel of the Scottish writer "Weir Hermiston" (the author was sure that this novel would become his best creation in general) remained, alas, unfinished. Stevenson died on December 3, 1894 from an apoplectic stroke on one of the two large islands of Western Samoa - on the island of Upolu.
