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Article: Robert Louis Stevenson: A Biography. (book reviews)
- Article from:
- Insight on the News
- Article date:
- February 13, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 News World Communications, Inc. 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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The romance of Robert Louis Stevenson's short life is known to most fans of Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and A Child's Garden of Verses. He is one of a few authors so familiar we know him by his initials. Born in Edinburgh in 1850, RLS died in Samoa in 1894 after decades spent in pursuit of a climate fit for his delicate lungs. We have seen the bas-relief bronze medallion by St. Gaudens of the invalid upon his sickbed, a pathetic "syphilitic Christ" with pen in hand (or is it a cheroot?) revising a manuscript, a tragic exile in The Land of Counterpane.
He is the sick child in all of us, longing for adventure. His books seem the more precious as ...