Robert Louis Stevenson

PREFACE An affair which might be deemed worthy of a note of a few lines in any general history has been here expanded to the size of a volume or large pamphlet. The smallness of the scale, and the singularity of the manners and events and many of the characters, considered, it is hoped that, in spite of its outlandish subject, the sketch may find readers. It has been a task of difficulty. Speed was essential, or it might come too late to be of any service to a distracted country. Truth, in the midst of conflicting rumours and in the dearth of printed material, was often hard to ascertain, and since most of those engaged were of my personal acquaintance, it was often more than delicate to express. I must certainly have erred often and much; it is not for want of trouble taken nor of an impartial temper. And if my plain speaking shall cost me any of the friends that I still count, I shall be sorry, but I need not be ashamed. In one particular the spelling of Samoan words has been altered; and the characteristic nasal n of the language written throughout ng instead of g. Thus I put Pango-Pango, instead of Pago-Pago; the sound being that of soft ng in English, as in singer, not as in finger. R. L. S. VAILIMA, UPOLU, SAMOA. Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (13 November 1850 - 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. His most famous works are Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and A Child's Garden of Verses. A literary celebrity during his lifetime, Stevenson now ranks as the 26th most translated author in the world. His works have been admired by many other writers, including Jorge Luis Borges, Bertolt Brecht, Marcel Proust, Arthur Conan Doyle, Henry James, Cesare Pavese, Emilio Salgari, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, Vladimir Nabokov, J. M. Barrie, and G. K. Chesterton, who said of him that he "seemed to pick the right word up on the point of his pen, like a man playing spillikins Stevenson was born at 8 Howard Place, Edinburgh, Scotland, on 13 November 1850 to Thomas Stevenson (1818-87), a leading lighthouse engineer, and his wife Margaret Isabella (n e Balfour; 1829-97). He was christened Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson. At about age 18, Stevenson was to change the spelling of "Lewis" to "Louis," and in 1873 he dropped "Balfour." Lighthouse design was the family's profession: Thomas's father (Robert's grandfather) was the famous Robert Stevenson, and both of Thomas's brothers (Robert's uncles) Alan and David, were in the same field. Indeed, even Thomas's maternal grandfather, Thomas Smith, had been in the same profession. However, Robert's mother's family were not of the same profession. Margaret's natal family, the Balfours, were gentry, tracing their lineage back to a certain Alexander Balfour who had held the lands of Inchyra in Fife in the fifteenth century. Margaret's father, Lewis Balfour (1777-1860), was a minister of the Church of Scotland at nearby Colinton, and her siblings included the physician George William Balfour and the marine engineer James Balfour. Stevenson spent the greater part of his boyhood holidays in his maternal grandfather's house. "Now I often wonder," wrote Stevenson, "what I inherited from this old minister. I must suppose, indeed, that he was fond of preaching sermons, and so am I, though I never heard it maintained that either of us loved to hear them

NOTE This volume of papers, unconnected as they are, it will be better to read through from the beginning, rather than dip into at random. A certain thread of meaning binds them. Memories of childhood and youth, portraits of those who have gone before us in the battle-taken together, they build up a face that "I have loved long since and lost awhile," the face of what was once myself. This has come by accident; I had no design at first to be autobiographical; I was but led away by the charm of beloved memories and by regret for the irrevocable dead; and when my own young face (which is a face of the dead also) began to appear in the well as by a kind of magic, I was the first to be surprised at the occurrence. My grandfather the pious child, my father the idle eager sentimental youth, I have thus unconsciously exposed. Of their descendant, the person of to-day, I wish to keep the secret: not because I love him better, but because, with him, I am still in a business partnership, and cannot divide interests. Of the papers which make up the volume, some have appeared already in The Cornhill, Longman's, Scribner, The English Illustrated, The Magazine of Art, The Contemporary Review; three are here in print for the first time; and two others have enjoyed only what may he regarded as a private circulation. R. L S.

https: //fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Fl%C3%A8che_noire The Black Arrow (The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses) is an adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. Serialized in Young Folks' teen magazine from 30 June to 20 October 1883, it was published in volume at ditions Scribner in 1888. The story takes place in the 15th century in England during the turbulent period of the War of the Two Roses. The young hero, Richard "Dick" Shelton, discovers that the person responsible for the murder of his father is none other than his guardian, Sir Daniel Brackley. He joined the ranks of the Black Spire outlaws in Tunstall Forest to accomplish his vengeance and save Jeanne Sedley, the elect of her heart that Sir Daniel wants to marry to another. At the end of many adventures, he was made a knight by the one called Richard III of England and saw the assassin of his father undergo a well-deserved punishment, before convolving in marriage with his beloved.

Extract: I.-THE PERSONS OF THE TALE. After the 32nd chapter of Treasure Island, two of the puppets strolled out to have a pipe before business should begin again, and met in an open place not far from the story. "Good-morning, Cap'n," said the first, with a man-o'-war salute, and a beaming countenance. "Ah, Silver " grunted the other. "You're in a bad way, Silver." "Now, Cap'n Smollett," remonstrated Silver, "dooty is dooty, as I knows, and none better; but we're off dooty now; and I can't see no call to keep up the morality business." "You're a damned rogue, my man," said the Captain. "Come, come, Cap'n, be just," returned the other. "There's no call to be angry with me in earnest. I'm on'y a chara'ter in a sea story. I don't really exist." "Well, I don't really exist either," says the Captain, "which seems to meet that." "I wouldn't set no limits to what a virtuous chara'ter might consider argument," responded Silver. "But I'm the villain of this tale, I am; and speaking as one sea-faring man to another, what I want to know is, what's the odds?" "Were you never taught your catechism?" said the Captain. "Don't you know there's such a thing as an Author?" "Such a thing as a Author?" returned John, derisively. "And who better'n me? And the p'int is, if the Author made you, he made Long John, and he made Hands, and Pew, and George Merry-not that George is up to much, for he's little more'n a name; and he made Flint, what there is of him; and he made this here mutiny, you keep such a work about; and he had Tom Redruth shot; and-well, if that's a Author, give me Pew " "Don't you believe in a future state?" said Smollett. "Do you think there's nothing but the present story-paper?" "I don't rightly know for that," said Silver; "and I don't see what it's got to do with it, anyway. What I know is this: if there is sich a thing as a Author, I'm his favourite chara'ter. He does me fathoms better'n he does you-fathoms, he does. And he likes doing me. He keeps me on deck mostly all the time, crutch and all; and he leaves you measling in the hold, where nobody can't see you, nor wants to, and you may lay to that If there is a Author, by thunder, but he's on my side, and you may lay to it " "I see he's giving you a long rope," said the Captain. "But that can't change a man's convictions. I know the Author respects me; I feel it in my bones; when you and I had that talk at the blockhouse door, who do you think he was for, my man?" "And don't he respect me?" cried Silver. "Ah, you should 'a' heard me putting down my mutiny, George Merry and Morgan and that lot, no longer ago'n last chapter; you'd heard something then You'd 'a' seen what the Author thinks o' me But come now, do you consider yourself a virtuous chara'ter clean through?" "God forbid " said Captain Smollett, solemnly. "I am a man that tries to do his duty, and makes a mess of it as often as not. I'm not a very popular man at home, Silver, I'm afraid " and the Captain sighed. "Ah," says Silver. "Then how about this sequel of yours? Are you to be Cap'n Smollett just the same as ever, and not very popular at home, says you? And if so, why, it's Treasure Island over again, by thunder; and I'll be Long John, and Pew'll be Pew, and we'll have another mutiny, as like as not. Or are you to be somebody else? And if so, why, what the better are you? and what the worse am I?" "Why, look here, my man," returned the Captain, "I can't understand how this story comes about at all, can I? I can't see how you and I, who don't exist, should get to speaking here, and smoke our pipes for all the world like reality? Very well, then, who am I to pipe up with my opinions? I know the Author's on the side of good; he tells me so, it runs out of his pen as he writes. Well, that's all I need to know; I'll take my chance upon the rest." "It's a fact he seemed to be against

La isla del tesoro es una novela de aventuras escrita por el escoc s Robert Louis Stevenson, publicada en libro en Londres en 1883 (publicada originalmente por entregas en la revista infantil Young Folks, entre 1881 y 1882 con el t tulo de The Sea Cook, or Treasure Island). Esta obra ha sido fuente de inspiraci n en el cine, en la televisi n, en la literatura, en c mics e incluso en videojuegos. La novela adopta un tono cr tico y una reflexi n moral del protagonista hacia el dinero y la ambici n.

Kidnapped is an historical fiction adventure novel that has attracted the praise and admiration of writers as diverse as Henry James, Jorge Luis Borges, and Hilary Mantel. The book was well received while Stevenson was alive, but after his death many viewed it with scepticism, but by the mid-20th century, however, it had regained critical approval and study. A sequel to Kidnapped was published in 1893 called "Catriona".

"Treasure Island" was the break out hit of the 1915 season when it opened on Broadway to sold out houses and ran for over 200 performances. Stevenson's estate had granted the rights to Broadway producer Charles Hopkins only on specifications that the adaptation took no liberties with the novel. Critics noted that the playwright caught and preserved the flavor, the color, and the spirit of the book. The play was such a popular success that it toured extensively throughout the first part of the 20th Century and is even still produced today. After leaving his editorship post with Current Literature, Jules Eckert Goodman turned his attention to writing plays and achieved his first success with his 1910 play "Mother." It followed a succession of other successful Broadway plays including the popular "Potash and Permutter" plays. Many of his plays were adapted for the movies including the 1932 Bette Davis film "The Man Who Played God."

Extract: CHAPTER I-IN WHICH THE PRINCE DEPARTS ON AN ADVENTURE You shall seek in vain upon the map of Europe for the bygone state of Gr newald. An independent principality, an infinitesimal member of the German Empire, she played, for several centuries, her part in the discord of Europe; and, at last, in the ripeness of time and at the spiriting of several bald diplomatists, vanished like a morning ghost. Less fortunate than Poland, she left not a regret behind her; and the very memory of her boundaries has faded. It was a patch of hilly country covered with thick wood. Many streams took their beginning in the glens of Gr newald, turning mills for the inhabitants. There was one town, Mittwalden, and many brown, wooden hamlets, climbing roof above roof, along the steep bottom of dells, and communicating by covered bridges over the larger of the torrents. The hum of watermills, the splash of running water, the clean odour of pine sawdust, the sound and smell of the pleasant wind among the innumerable army of the mountain pines, the dropping fire of huntsmen, the dull stroke of the wood-axe, intolerable roads, fresh trout for supper in the clean bare chamber of an inn, and the song of birds and the music of the village-bells-these were the recollections of the Gr newald tourist. North and east the foothills of Gr newald sank with varying profile into a vast plain. On these sides many small states bordered with the principality, Gerolstein, an extinct grand duchy, among the number. On the south it marched with the comparatively powerful kingdom of Seaboard Bohemia, celebrated for its flowers and mountain bears, and inhabited by a people of singular simplicity and tenderness of heart. Several intermarriages had, in the course of centuries, united the crowned families of Gr newald and Maritime Bohemia; and the last Prince of Gr newald, whose history I purpose to relate, drew his descent through Perdita, the only daughter of King Florizel the First of Bohemia. That these intermarriages had in some degree mitigated the rough, manly stock of the first Gr newalds, was an opinion widely held within the borders of the principality. The charcoal burner, the mountain sawyer, the wielder of the broad axe among the congregated pines of Gr newald, proud of their hard hands, proud of their shrewd ignorance and almost savage lore, looked with an unfeigned contempt on the soft character and manners of the sovereign race. The precise year of grace in which this tale begins shall be left to the conjecture of the reader....

In Scotland, in the eighteenth century, in the Durrisdeer manor, the two Durie brothers live: James, the master of Ballantrae, the eldest of the family, is a libertine calculator, ambitious, amoral, but charismatic and respected; Henry, the younger, is moderate, more virtuous, but unjustly unloved. In 1745, the country was plunged in a civil war between the Jacobites, partisans of the pretender Jacques Fran ois Stuart, to the army of the king in place, George II. By opportunism, James wants to support the cause of the rebels, despite the contrary opinion of his father and his brother. The latter think that as an elder he should stay at the manor to show his loyalty to King George; And that it is rather for Henry to engage with the Jacobites. James sealed his destiny and that of the Durrisdeer by going despite all to fight alongside Prince Charles. On April 16, 1746, the famous battle of Culloden saw the crushing of the Jacobite rebellion and James was presumed dead. Having in fact survived, Master then conceived a fierce hatred against Henry, to whom he reproached his disgrace and the spoliation of his property. From then on, and throughout his life, James will never cease persecuting his brother. At first, Henry will endure all humiliations. Then he will end up devoured by the same hatred that animates his brother. The final confrontation will end tragically, in the heart of the Adirondack wilderness.

First published in 2006. A collection of three delightful South Sea tales by Robert Louis Stevenson, this book will be of interest to anyone with a penchant for travel and adventure. First published in 1893, The Beach of Falesa, The Bottle Imp and The Isle of Voices are among the best of Stevenson's works. Beautiful illustrations add to the appeal of this classic book.