海角大神

Robert Louis Stevenson is best known for adventure books like 鈥淭reasure Island鈥� and 鈥淜idnapped鈥� and for the macabre novella 鈥淭he Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.鈥� He brought to his work both imagination and a serious dedication to craft, and his writing often seems strikingly modern 鈥� most notably in his willingness to plumb the inner lives of characters.

As Leo Damrosch explains in 鈥淪toryteller,鈥� his new biography, Stevenson鈥檚 鈥渟tories have a driving energy 鈥� he called it 鈥榢inetic鈥� 鈥� that is sustained by a tactile experience of time and place, not as a description but as a re-creation of how it felt.鈥�

Damrosch argues that the writer鈥檚 wider body of work deserves more attention and respect. 鈥淪tevenson鈥檚 novels and stories combine two different kinds of excellence that aren鈥檛 often found together: he is at once an exacting craftsman and a spellbinding narrator,鈥� he writes. 鈥淕erard Manley Hopkins, whose own poems are so knotty, said that 鈥楽tevenson is a master of a consummate style, and each phrase is finished as in poetry.鈥� There are no wasted words.鈥�

Stevenson was born in 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and died on a Pacific island in 1894, near the dawn of the 20th century. For many years following his death, he was widely disparaged as a quaint, velvet-jacketed, bohemian figure. In the literary world, he has been categorized 鈥� and often dismissed 鈥� as merely a children鈥檚 author and poet. After decades of exclusion from 鈥淭he Norton Anthology of English Literature,鈥� Stevenson鈥檚 鈥淒r. Jekyll鈥� was added in 2000 鈥� a curious selection, perhaps, since it 鈥渋s far from typical of his writing and was known mainly in film adaptations,鈥� Damrosch writes.

Damrosch鈥檚 book has arrived amid a brighter spotlight on Stevenson鈥檚 life and legacy. Camille Peri鈥檚 2024 鈥淎 Wilder Shore鈥� offered a dual biography of Stevenson and his American wife, Fanny, who has long been criticized as a drain on his career. Like Peri, Damrosch presents a more sympathetic view of Fanny as a key partner in his domestic and professional life.

Given Stevenson鈥檚 challenges, the presence of a helpmate became especially significant. Born into a prominent Scottish family best known for building lighthouses, he dealt with lung problems from childhood into adulthood, often following the common advice to travel as a remedy. Stevenson tried both cold and hot climates, seeing much of the world in the bargain. After traveling around the South Sea Islands, he lived the last four years of his life in Vailima, Samoa. Such destinations fueled his creativity and drive to succeed as a writer, a profession that marked a dramatic departure from the Stevenson family tradition of engineering.

Although he鈥檚 more celebrated today as a novelist, Stevenson鈥檚 first successes were travel books, including 鈥淭ravels With a Donkey in the C茅vennes,鈥� his 1879 account of a ramble through the mountains of southern France with a donkey named Modestine. The generally charming tale is jarred by Stevenson鈥檚 confession that he beat Modestine to force her compliance, a detail that 鈥渃asts a pall over the theme of interior pilgrimage,鈥� Damrosch writes.

Such passages remind readers that Stevenson wasn鈥檛 always above the casual cruelties of his time. On many other levels, though, he could be visionary. His embrace of Indigenous culture during his final years in Samoa 鈥� and his support for the cause of Samoan independence 鈥� suggested an openness to worlds beyond his own, modeling our contemporary ideal of the global citizen.

As a traveler, he displayed a striking gift for capturing not only geographical detail but the essential character and personality of a locale. In 鈥淭he Old Pacific Capital,鈥� he reports from Monterey, California, on 鈥渢he haunting presence of the ocean,鈥� noting that 鈥済o where you will, you have to pause and listen to hear the voice of the Pacific.鈥� A more conventional writer would have indulged the standard view of the California shore as a sunny idyll. But Stevenson is also alert to the ocean鈥檚 undeniable claims on a visitor鈥檚 attention 鈥� an insistence that鈥檚 not simply calming, but a bit eerie.

A faint note of melancholy gives much of Stevenson鈥檚 work, even his tales and poems that are ostensibly aimed at children, an arresting texture. In 鈥淭he Land of Counterpane,鈥� a poem about a boy in bed with his toys, the cheerful rhythm of the rhyme resonates with a poignant undercurrent because we sense the child鈥檚 loneliness. In the brightly expressed poem 鈥淢y Shadow,鈥� the dark doppelg盲nger that follows the reader everywhere is amusing and playful, but also somewhat spectral.

As an RLS scholar, Damrosch has many predecessors, including Frank McLynn and his magisterial 1994 biography. Damrosch writes: 鈥淚 try to illuminate Stevenson鈥檚 achievement as a writer more fully than others have done; they seem often to assume that his works are already familiar to readers, which is generally not the case.鈥�

鈥淭reasure Island,鈥� 鈥淜idnapped,鈥� and 鈥淒r. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde鈥� still sell well and would not seem to desperately need a new champion. But Damrosch鈥檚 survey of the rest of Stevenson鈥檚 work, including his genius as an essayist and letter writer, is welcome. In 鈥淭he Club,鈥� Damrosch鈥檚 sharply observed 2019 book about the social circle surrounding 18th-century lexicographer Samuel Johnson, the author deftly placed readers within the teeming London milieu that quickened Johnson鈥檚 capacious intellect.

鈥淪toryteller鈥� is a less immersive read than 鈥淭he Club,鈥� partly because some of Damrosch鈥檚 cultural references can seem glancing. One sometimes wishes for a deeper dive into characters such as Leslie Stephen, the influential magazine editor whose publication of Stevenson鈥檚 essays and stories was an early boost. As Damrosch notes, Stephen is best known today as the father of Virginia Woolf. The chance to sketch out Stephen more fully feels like a missed opportunity.

Stevenson was also an astute literary critic, and this aspect of his career also begs for more exploration in 鈥淪toryteller.鈥� His closely argued, perceptive, and sometimes humorous essay on Henry David Thoreau gets only passing mention here. Like Thoreau, Stevenson had a reputation as a carefree dawdler, an image that in both men belied their industry and ambition.

鈥淪tevenson鈥檚 published output was remarkable,鈥� Damrosch writes, noting 11 novels, more than 100 essays, and several hundred poems. Such an oeuvre defies easy summary, though author Richard Holmes came close. Stevenson, he wrote, 鈥渕ade the dreams of childhood sing with adult possibilities.鈥�

In 鈥淪toryteller,鈥� those possibilities sing again.