Storyteller: The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson

Biographer and Harvard literature professor Damrosch follows up Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World with a comprehensive portrait of Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). Drawing on more than 3,000 of Stevenson’s letters and his unpublished memoir, Damrosch explains that Stevenson’s path to literary success was far from linear; his early education was “casual and intermittent,” and his dislike of school persisted even as he pursued a law degree. His first book, 1878’s An Inland Voyage, was a travelogue recounting a canoe trip he took through Belgium and France. He began reaching a wide readership in the early 1880s, with the publication of Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the poetry collection A Child’s Garden of Verses. Damrosch draws parallels between Stevenson’s works, noting that the theme of dividedness or duality of human nature in Jekyll and Hyde recurred in Kidnapped, and explores real-life influences on his characters, like how Treasure Island’s Long John Silver was based on his friend, the poet William Ernest Henley. Through granular detail (“[Stevenson’s] eyes were unusually far apart and struck everyone as compelling”) and astute analyses, like of the crucial role his wife Fanny played in his life and work, Damrosch brings the celebrated novelist to life. It’s a notable achievement. (Sept.)