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Article: Robert Louis Stevenson.
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- June 19, 1993
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. By Frank McLynn. Hutchinson; 448 pages; Pounds20. To be published in America by Random House
FEW men's literary reputations can have tarnished as quickly and decisively as that of Robert Louis Stevenson, who is remembered chiefly as the author of two children's books, "Treasure Island" and "Kidnapped". But according to Frank McLynn, the hour of reappraisal is at hand.
Born in 1850 to an illustrious family of Edinburgh lighthouse engineers, the young Stevenson was a lively but sickly child. Force-fed Calvinism by a nanny, he became fascinated by the polarities of good and evil--a fascination which would resurface later in "Dr Jekyll and ...