Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (1850-1894) was born in Edinburgh on the 13 November 1850. His father and grandfather were both successful engineers who built many of the lighthouses that dotted the Scottish coast, whilst his mother came from a family of lawyers and church ministers. A sickly boy whose mother was also often unwell, Stevenson spent much of his childhood with the family nurse, Alison Cunningham. She told him many ghost stories and supernatural tales which seem to resonate throughout Stevenson's later fiction, reappearing in several of his short-stories, such as 'The Body Snatchers', 'The Merry Men', and 'Thrawn Janet'. In 1867, Stevenson enrolled at Edinburgh University to study engineering. The choice of subject was influenced by Stevenson's father, who wished his son to continue the prestigious family tradition. Stevenson however had other ambitions, and even at this early stage, expressed a desire to write. He shortly changed courses and began to study law, but soon gave this up to concentrate on writing professionally, much to the displeasure of his father.
By alberto (Ana Quiroga) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Stevenson married…
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| # | Resource Title | Description | Contributor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victorian Gothic: An Introduction | In the time of early Victorian technology, steam-trains and the electric telegraph, many writers… | Julian Thompson |
| 2 | Treasure Island [Electronic resource] / Robert Louis Stevenson | ebook version of Treasure Island [Electronic resource] / Robert Louis Stevenson | |
| 3 | In the South Seas | ebook version of In the South Seas | |
| 4 | The wrecker | ebook version of The wrecker | |
| 5 | Robert Louis Stevenson’s reading | Essay with images and links by Shafquat Towheed. Part of the OpenLearn unit 'History of reading: An… | Shafquat Towheed |
| 6 | Victorian Poetry and Fiction | The years 1837-1901 in which Queen Victoria reigned were highly influential in the development of… | Charlotte Barrett |
| 7 | Victorian Publishing History | The History of ReadingIn the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, reading was… |
Charlotte Barrett |
| 8 | On the Origin of Species | Publisher info: London: John Murray, 1859. | |
| 9 | The Merry Men and Other Tales | Collection of short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson. Publisher info: T. Nelson & Sond Ltd. | |
| 10 | Supernatural Horror in Literature | Long essay by the celebrated horror writer H. P. Lovecraft surveying the field of horror fiction. |