Selected Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson

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Yale University Press, Jan 1, 2001 - Biography & Autobiography - 626 pages
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.

From inside the book

Contents

Engineering
1
Cockfield Rectory and New Friends
35
Mentone
52
Literature Law and Mrs Sitwell
85
Progress
119
America and Marriage
147
Summers in Scotland and Winters at Davos
172
Marseilles and Hyères
211
The Quarrel with
342
The Marquesas
377
Five Months in Hawaii
389
The Cruise of the Equator
407
The First Two Years at Vailima
429
The Last Two Years at Vailima
522
The Death of Stevenson
609
Copyright

Three Years in Bournemouth
266

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About the author (2001)

Ernest Mehew, widely recognized as the leading authority on Stevenson's life and work, is a retired English civil servant. He worked on the complete eight-volume edition of Stevenson's letters for more than twenty-five years.

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