The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 23
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 23
Before he wrote Treasure Island or Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson was simply a young man trying to become a writer. This volume gathers his letters from 1868 to 1873, a window into the mind of a literary artist still finding his voice. We see the twenty-year-old in Edinburgh, frail and ambitious, writing letters that crackle with humor even as tuberculosis stalks him. He explores the Scottish coast with desperate energy, searching for health and inspiration. His correspondence reveals the relationships that shaped him: the bond with his father, the friendships that would last a lifetime, the mentors who saw promise in this anxious young man. These aren't the polished essays of a finished author but something more valuable the raw material, the early drafts of a literary imagination discovering itself. Through letters about nothing and everything, we watch one of Britain's great storytellers learn to tell his own story.
