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Posted in: Wishes
Showing posts with label Wishes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wishes. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Curbs on New Year parties at hotels
CHENNAI: The Chennai police have announced several restrictions and guidelines for hotels organising New Year parties, including setting 1.30 a.m. as the deadline for winding up the celebrations.
Commissioner of Police T. Rajendran, at a meeting with hotel representatives on Tuesday, said they should inform the Deputy Commissioner of Police concerned about the special programmes/events. They should obtain structural stability certificate if they planned to erect a stage. The hotels should also install surveillance cameras at vantage points.
Swimming pools should remain closed from 8 p.m. on December 31 to 6 a.m. on January 1. Liquor should be served only at the bar, Mr. Rajendran said. “Liquor should be served only up to 11 p.m. We have asked them to wind up the celebrations by 1.30 a.m.”
Mr. Rajendran said hotel authorities must ensure that there is no eve-teasing. While restricting the number of tickets/passes, the hotel staff should ensure that guests in an inebriated condition do not drive vehicles. Such guests should be accommodated in the hotel till a driver is arranged. All vehicles entering the premises should be thoroughly checked.
Mr. Rajendran said the hotel authorities have been told to inform employees that they should alert the police in case they came across any unclaimed baggage on the premises. “Such parties can be soft targets…we have asked them to take basic security measures to ensure that the celebrations are incident-free.”
Hotels should not allow guests to park their vehicles on the road. Steps should be taken to make alternative parking arrangements. “If foreign nationals are engaged to perform, they should have necessary travel documents. Our idea is to ensure that each and every guest is identified. Night patrolling will be intensified and adequate police personnel deployed across the city during the celebrations,” Mr. Rajendran said.
Curbs on New Year parties at hotels
CHENNAI: The Chennai police have announced several restrictions and guidelines for hotels organising New Year parties, including setting 1.30 a.m. as the deadline for winding up the celebrations.
Commissioner of Police T. Rajendran, at a meeting with hotel representatives on Tuesday, said they should inform the Deputy Commissioner of Police concerned about the special programmes/events. They should obtain structural stability certificate if they planned to erect a stage. The hotels should also install surveillance cameras at vantage points.
Swimming pools should remain closed from 8 p.m. on December 31 to 6 a.m. on January 1. Liquor should be served only at the bar, Mr. Rajendran said. “Liquor should be served only up to 11 p.m. We have asked them to wind up the celebrations by 1.30 a.m.”
Mr. Rajendran said hotel authorities must ensure that there is no eve-teasing. While restricting the number of tickets/passes, the hotel staff should ensure that guests in an inebriated condition do not drive vehicles. Such guests should be accommodated in the hotel till a driver is arranged. All vehicles entering the premises should be thoroughly checked.
Mr. Rajendran said the hotel authorities have been told to inform employees that they should alert the police in case they came across any unclaimed baggage on the premises. “Such parties can be soft targets…we have asked them to take basic security measures to ensure that the celebrations are incident-free.”
Hotels should not allow guests to park their vehicles on the road. Steps should be taken to make alternative parking arrangements. “If foreign nationals are engaged to perform, they should have necessary travel documents. Our idea is to ensure that each and every guest is identified. Night patrolling will be intensified and adequate police personnel deployed across the city during the celebrations,” Mr. Rajendran said.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Centre puts India under terror alert ahead of New Year
New Delhi: Ahead of the New Year, the Home Ministry has sounded a country-wide terror alert, especially for Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Goa and Bangalore, after getting intelligence inputs that Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba was planning to strike.
The police of Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Goa and Bangalore have been put on high alert and specific instructions have been issued for taking all possible steps to foil any attempt by LeT terrorists to disturb peace, official sources said.
The intelligence inputs suggested that LeT teams have already entered Mumbai and Ahmedabad and may strike at any time. The inputs also suggested that the terrorists may try to target one of the properties of the Taj group of hotels in Mumbai.
Security forces have already launched "house-to-house" searches in some specific areas in Mumbai. Additional forces have been deployed in all sensitive and crowded places, including markets, religious places, bus and railway stations. Both Mumbai and Ahmedabad had faced several terrorist attacks in the past including the November 26, 2008 strike in the commercial capital and September 25, 2002 attack on the Akshardham temple in the Gujarat capital.
Terrorists had attacked Bangalore's Indian Institute of Science on December 29, 2005 that killed a senior academician while on July 25, 2008 six subsequent blasts killed 3 persons and injured 20 others in the same city.
Centre puts India under terror alert ahead of New Year
New Delhi: Ahead of the New Year, the Home Ministry has sounded a country-wide terror alert, especially for Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Goa and Bangalore, after getting intelligence inputs that Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba was planning to strike.
The police of Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Goa and Bangalore have been put on high alert and specific instructions have been issued for taking all possible steps to foil any attempt by LeT terrorists to disturb peace, official sources said.
The intelligence inputs suggested that LeT teams have already entered Mumbai and Ahmedabad and may strike at any time. The inputs also suggested that the terrorists may try to target one of the properties of the Taj group of hotels in Mumbai.
Security forces have already launched "house-to-house" searches in some specific areas in Mumbai. Additional forces have been deployed in all sensitive and crowded places, including markets, religious places, bus and railway stations. Both Mumbai and Ahmedabad had faced several terrorist attacks in the past including the November 26, 2008 strike in the commercial capital and September 25, 2002 attack on the Akshardham temple in the Gujarat capital.
Terrorists had attacked Bangalore's Indian Institute of Science on December 29, 2005 that killed a senior academician while on July 25, 2008 six subsequent blasts killed 3 persons and injured 20 others in the same city.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Scottish essayist, poet, and author of fiction and travel books, known especially for his novels of adventure. Stevenson's characters often prefer unknown hazards to everyday life of the Victorian society. His most famous examination of the split personality is THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1886). Many of Stevenson's stories are set in colorful locations, they have also horror and supernatural elements. Arguing against realism, Stevenson underlined the "nameless longings of the reader", the desire for experience. 
Stevenson was largely raised by his nanny, Alison Cunningham, whom he devoted A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES (1885). Cunningham had strong Calvinist convictions and praying became part of Stevenson's early life, and later reflected in such pieces like the poem 'A Thought': "It is very nice to think / The world is full of meat and drink, / With little children saying grace / In every Christian kind of place."
Since his childhood, Stevenson suffered from tuberculosis. During his early years, he spent much of his time in bed, composing stories before he had learned to read. At the age of sixteen, he produced a short historical tale. As an adult, there were times when Stevenson could not wear a jacket for fear of bringing on a haemorrhage of the lung. In 1867, he entered Edinburgh University to study engineering. Due to his ill health, he had to abandon his plans to follow in his father's footsteps. Stevenson changed to law and in 1875 he was called to the Scottish bar. By then he had already started to write travel sketches, essays, and short stories for magazines. His first articles were published in The Edinburgh University Magazine (1871) and The Portofolio (1873).
In a attempt to improve his health, Stevenson travelled on the Continent and in the Scottish Highland. These trips provided him with many insights and inspiration for his writing, although sometimes could take a long time before Stevenson edited for publication his notes and sketches.
Stevenson's tone in his travelogues is often jovial or satirical. However, constant voyaging was not always easy for him. In a letter, written on his journey across the Atlantic in 1879, he complained: "I have a strange, rather horrible, sense of the sea before me, and can see no further into future. I can say honestly I have at this moment neither a regret, a hope, a fear or an inclination; except a mild one for a bottle of good wine which I resist". Due to his poor health, Stevenson spent much time in warmer countries.
Stevenson's own early favorite books, which influenced his imagination and thinking, included Shakespeare's Hamlet, Dumas's adventure tale of the elderly D'Artagan, Vicomte de Bragelone, and Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, "a book which tumbled the world upside down for me, blew into space a thousand cobwebs of genteel and ethical illusion, and having thus shaken my tabernacle of lies, set me back again upon a strong foundation of all the original and manly virtues." (from Reading in Bed, ed. by Steven Gilbar, 1995) Also Montaigne's Essais and the Gospel according to St. Matthew were very important for him.
An account of Stevenson's canoe tour of France and Belgium was published in 1878 as AN INLAND VOYAGE. It was followed by TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY IN THE CÉVENNES, based on his walking trip in France, during which he learned to control himself as well as his stubborn donkey. "I travel for travel's sake," Stevenson wrote. "The great affair is to move." With his friend William Ernest Henley he wrote several plays. While in France Stevenson met Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne, a married woman with two children, Belle and Lloyd. Fanny was 10 years older than Stevenson, who viewed her as an "exotic goddess". She returned to the United States to get a divorce. In 187,9 Stevenson followed her to California, where they married in 1880. After a brief stay at Calistoga, which was recorded in THE SILVERADO SQUATTERS (1883), they returned to Scotland, and then moved often in search of better climates.
A Child's Garden of Verses was a success – its poems have also become popular as songs. Stevenson's other major works from the 1880s are KIDNAPPED (1886), the story of David Balfour, his distant ancestor, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, based on a dream and written and printed in 10 weeks, THE BLACK ARROW (1888), set in the era of the War of the Roses, and MASTER OF BALLANTRAE (1889). He also contributed to various periodicals, including The Cornhill Magazine and Longman's Magazine, where his best-known article 'A Humble Remonstrance' was published in 1884. This replay to Henry James's 'The Art of Fiction' launched a lifelong friendship between the two authors. Stevenson saw that the novel is a selection of and reorganization of certain aspects of life – "life is monstrous, infinite, illogical, abrupt and poignant; a work of art, in comparison, is neat, finite, self-contained, rational, flowing and emasculate."
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, published in January of 1886, sold 40,000 copies in six months in Britain. Stevenson once said, that its plot was revealed to him in a dream. The mystery of Jekyll and Hyde is gradually revealed through the narratives of Mr Enfield, Mr Utterson, Dr Lanyon, and Jekyll's butler Poole. Utterson, Jekyll's lawyer, discovers that the nasty Mr. Edward Hyde is the heir of Dr. Jekyll's fortune. Hyde is suspected of a murder. Utterson and Poole break into Jekyll's laboratory and find the lifeless Hyde. Two documents explain the mystery: Jekyll's old friend, the late Dr. Lanyon, tells that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. In his own account Jekyll tells that to separate the good and evil aspects of his nature, he invented a transforming drug. His evil self takes the form of the repulsive Mr Hyde. Jekyll's supplies of drugs run out and he finds himself slipping involuntarily into being Hyde. Jekyll kills himself, but the last words of the confession are written by his alter ego: "Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Dr. Jekyll to an end."
The story has been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality, but it can be read as a comment on Charles Darwin's book The Origin of Species – Dr. Jekyll turns in his experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured human being. Henry James admired Stevenson's "genuine feeling for the perpetual moral question, a fresh sense of the difficulty of being good and the brutishness of being bad". ('Robert Louis Stevenson' by Henry James in Century Magazine 35, April 1888) Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the split in man's psyche between ego and instinct, although the "split" takes the form of a physical change, rather than inner dissociation. And it has been argued, that the conflict between Jekyll and Hyde reveals era's class phobias. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has taken a place as an icon of popular culture and adapted among others into screen over 20 times. The tale of double personality and metamorphosis appealed strongly to Victorian readers. The novel was partly based on Stevenson's and W.E. Henley's play DEACON BRODIA (1880), where an Edinburgh councilor is publicly respectable person, but privately a thief and rakehell. The basic theme of true identity has inspired such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein, 1818), Hans Christian Andersen ('The Ugly Duckling', 1845), Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment, 1866), Bram Stoker (Dracula, 1897), Franz Kafka ('Metamorphosis', 1915).
Stevenson's father died in 1887. From the late 1880s, Stevenson lived with his family in the South Seas, where he had purchased an estate in Vailima, Samoa. During this period of his life, Stevenson enjoyed a comparative good health. With his stepson Lloyd Osbourne he wrote THE WRONG BOX (1889) and other works. He had nearly 20 servants and was known as 'Tusitala' or 'Teller of the Tales'. The writer himself translated it 'Chief White Information.' Fanny was called 'Flying Cloud' – perhaps referring to her restlessness. She had also suffered a mental breakdown in 1893.
In his short story 'The Bottle Imp', set on the island of Hawaii, Stevenson asked the question, does a sudden luck of fortune wipe out one's problems. Keawe, a poor man, buy's a bottle, tempered in the flames of hell. An imp lives inside it and is at the buyer's command fulfilling all desires. "'Here am I now upon my high place,' he said to himself. 'Life may be no better; this is the mountain top; and all shelves about me toward the worse. For the first time I will light up the chambers, and bathe in my fine bath with the hot water and the cold, and sleep above in the bed of my bridal chamber.'" Fascinated by the Polynesian culture, Stevenson wrote several letters to The Times on the islanders' behalf and published novels ISLAND NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS (1893), which contains his famous story 'The Beach of Falesá', and THE EBB-TIDE (1894), which condemned the European colonial exploitation.
Stevenson died of a brain haemorrhage on December 3, 1894, in Vailima. Fanny Stevenson died in 1914 in California. Her ashes were taken to Samoa and buried alonside her husband, on the summit of Mount Vaea. Stevenson's last work, WEIR OF HERMISTON (1896), was left unfinished, but is considered his masterpiece. His best-known work of horror, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, has since his death prompted several sequels by other hands, including Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes by Loren D. Estelman (1979), Jekyll, Alias Hyde: A Variation by Donald Thomas (1988), The Jekyll Legacy by Robert Bloch and Andre Norton (1990) and Mary Reilly by Valrie Matin (1990).
"But we are so fond of life that we have no leisure to entertain the terror of death. It is a honeymoon with us all through, and none of the longest. Small blame to us if we give our whole hearts to this glowing bride of ours, to the appetities, to honour, to the hungry curiosity of the mind, to the pleasure of the eyes in nature, and the pride of our own nimble bodies." (from 'Aes Triplex')Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson was born in Edinburgh. He was the only son of Thomas Stevenson, a prosperous joint-engineer to the Board of Northern Lighthouses, and Margaret Balfour, daughter of a Scottish clergyman. Thomas Stevenson invented, among others, the marine dynamometer, which measures the force of waves. Thomas's grandfather was Britain's greatest builder of lighthouses.
Stevenson was largely raised by his nanny, Alison Cunningham, whom he devoted A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES (1885). Cunningham had strong Calvinist convictions and praying became part of Stevenson's early life, and later reflected in such pieces like the poem 'A Thought': "It is very nice to think / The world is full of meat and drink, / With little children saying grace / In every Christian kind of place."
Since his childhood, Stevenson suffered from tuberculosis. During his early years, he spent much of his time in bed, composing stories before he had learned to read. At the age of sixteen, he produced a short historical tale. As an adult, there were times when Stevenson could not wear a jacket for fear of bringing on a haemorrhage of the lung. In 1867, he entered Edinburgh University to study engineering. Due to his ill health, he had to abandon his plans to follow in his father's footsteps. Stevenson changed to law and in 1875 he was called to the Scottish bar. By then he had already started to write travel sketches, essays, and short stories for magazines. His first articles were published in The Edinburgh University Magazine (1871) and The Portofolio (1873).
In a attempt to improve his health, Stevenson travelled on the Continent and in the Scottish Highland. These trips provided him with many insights and inspiration for his writing, although sometimes could take a long time before Stevenson edited for publication his notes and sketches.
Stevenson's tone in his travelogues is often jovial or satirical. However, constant voyaging was not always easy for him. In a letter, written on his journey across the Atlantic in 1879, he complained: "I have a strange, rather horrible, sense of the sea before me, and can see no further into future. I can say honestly I have at this moment neither a regret, a hope, a fear or an inclination; except a mild one for a bottle of good wine which I resist". Due to his poor health, Stevenson spent much time in warmer countries.
Stevenson's own early favorite books, which influenced his imagination and thinking, included Shakespeare's Hamlet, Dumas's adventure tale of the elderly D'Artagan, Vicomte de Bragelone, and Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, "a book which tumbled the world upside down for me, blew into space a thousand cobwebs of genteel and ethical illusion, and having thus shaken my tabernacle of lies, set me back again upon a strong foundation of all the original and manly virtues." (from Reading in Bed, ed. by Steven Gilbar, 1995) Also Montaigne's Essais and the Gospel according to St. Matthew were very important for him.
An account of Stevenson's canoe tour of France and Belgium was published in 1878 as AN INLAND VOYAGE. It was followed by TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY IN THE CÉVENNES, based on his walking trip in France, during which he learned to control himself as well as his stubborn donkey. "I travel for travel's sake," Stevenson wrote. "The great affair is to move." With his friend William Ernest Henley he wrote several plays. While in France Stevenson met Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne, a married woman with two children, Belle and Lloyd. Fanny was 10 years older than Stevenson, who viewed her as an "exotic goddess". She returned to the United States to get a divorce. In 187,9 Stevenson followed her to California, where they married in 1880. After a brief stay at Calistoga, which was recorded in THE SILVERADO SQUATTERS (1883), they returned to Scotland, and then moved often in search of better climates.
Wealth I ask not, hope nor love,Stevenson gained first fame with the romantic adventure story TREASURE ISLAND, a combination of travel adventure and romance. This work appeared first serialized in Young Folks 1881-82. Before its publication in book form Stevenson revised the text. The central character is Jim Hawkins, whose mother keeps an inn near the coast in the West Country. Jim meets an old pirate, Billy Bones, who has in his possession a map showing the location of Captain Flint's treasure. Bones dies after a second visit of his enemies. Jim, his mother, and a blind man named Pew, open Bones's sea chest and finds an oilskin packet containing the map. Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, Jim, and a small crew with Captain Smollett sail for Treasure Island. Jim discovers that the crew of the Hispaniola includes pirates, led by a personable one-legged man named Long John Silver, the cook of the ship. On a journey to the island interior, Jim encounters Ben Gunn, former shipmate of the pirates. After several adventures the pirates are defeated, Jim befriends with Long John, and the treasure is found. Jim and his friends sail back to England. Long John Silver manages to escape, taking as much gold as he can carry. The famous poem from the novel ("Fifteen men on the dead man's chest / Yo-ho-ho, and the bottle of rum!/ Drink and the devil had done for the rest – Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!) could have originally been "Fifteen men on the Dead Man's Chest... referring to a Caribbean Island Dead Chest. According to a tale, the notorious pirate Edward Teach left fifteen men on the island of Dead Man's Chest, with a bottle of rum and a sword.
Nor a friend to know me;
All I ask, the heaven above
And the road below me.
(from Songs of Travel)
A Child's Garden of Verses was a success – its poems have also become popular as songs. Stevenson's other major works from the 1880s are KIDNAPPED (1886), the story of David Balfour, his distant ancestor, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, based on a dream and written and printed in 10 weeks, THE BLACK ARROW (1888), set in the era of the War of the Roses, and MASTER OF BALLANTRAE (1889). He also contributed to various periodicals, including The Cornhill Magazine and Longman's Magazine, where his best-known article 'A Humble Remonstrance' was published in 1884. This replay to Henry James's 'The Art of Fiction' launched a lifelong friendship between the two authors. Stevenson saw that the novel is a selection of and reorganization of certain aspects of life – "life is monstrous, infinite, illogical, abrupt and poignant; a work of art, in comparison, is neat, finite, self-contained, rational, flowing and emasculate."
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, published in January of 1886, sold 40,000 copies in six months in Britain. Stevenson once said, that its plot was revealed to him in a dream. The mystery of Jekyll and Hyde is gradually revealed through the narratives of Mr Enfield, Mr Utterson, Dr Lanyon, and Jekyll's butler Poole. Utterson, Jekyll's lawyer, discovers that the nasty Mr. Edward Hyde is the heir of Dr. Jekyll's fortune. Hyde is suspected of a murder. Utterson and Poole break into Jekyll's laboratory and find the lifeless Hyde. Two documents explain the mystery: Jekyll's old friend, the late Dr. Lanyon, tells that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. In his own account Jekyll tells that to separate the good and evil aspects of his nature, he invented a transforming drug. His evil self takes the form of the repulsive Mr Hyde. Jekyll's supplies of drugs run out and he finds himself slipping involuntarily into being Hyde. Jekyll kills himself, but the last words of the confession are written by his alter ego: "Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Dr. Jekyll to an end."
The story has been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality, but it can be read as a comment on Charles Darwin's book The Origin of Species – Dr. Jekyll turns in his experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured human being. Henry James admired Stevenson's "genuine feeling for the perpetual moral question, a fresh sense of the difficulty of being good and the brutishness of being bad". ('Robert Louis Stevenson' by Henry James in Century Magazine 35, April 1888) Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the split in man's psyche between ego and instinct, although the "split" takes the form of a physical change, rather than inner dissociation. And it has been argued, that the conflict between Jekyll and Hyde reveals era's class phobias. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has taken a place as an icon of popular culture and adapted among others into screen over 20 times. The tale of double personality and metamorphosis appealed strongly to Victorian readers. The novel was partly based on Stevenson's and W.E. Henley's play DEACON BRODIA (1880), where an Edinburgh councilor is publicly respectable person, but privately a thief and rakehell. The basic theme of true identity has inspired such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein, 1818), Hans Christian Andersen ('The Ugly Duckling', 1845), Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment, 1866), Bram Stoker (Dracula, 1897), Franz Kafka ('Metamorphosis', 1915).
Stevenson's father died in 1887. From the late 1880s, Stevenson lived with his family in the South Seas, where he had purchased an estate in Vailima, Samoa. During this period of his life, Stevenson enjoyed a comparative good health. With his stepson Lloyd Osbourne he wrote THE WRONG BOX (1889) and other works. He had nearly 20 servants and was known as 'Tusitala' or 'Teller of the Tales'. The writer himself translated it 'Chief White Information.' Fanny was called 'Flying Cloud' – perhaps referring to her restlessness. She had also suffered a mental breakdown in 1893.
In his short story 'The Bottle Imp', set on the island of Hawaii, Stevenson asked the question, does a sudden luck of fortune wipe out one's problems. Keawe, a poor man, buy's a bottle, tempered in the flames of hell. An imp lives inside it and is at the buyer's command fulfilling all desires. "'Here am I now upon my high place,' he said to himself. 'Life may be no better; this is the mountain top; and all shelves about me toward the worse. For the first time I will light up the chambers, and bathe in my fine bath with the hot water and the cold, and sleep above in the bed of my bridal chamber.'" Fascinated by the Polynesian culture, Stevenson wrote several letters to The Times on the islanders' behalf and published novels ISLAND NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS (1893), which contains his famous story 'The Beach of Falesá', and THE EBB-TIDE (1894), which condemned the European colonial exploitation.
Stevenson died of a brain haemorrhage on December 3, 1894, in Vailima. Fanny Stevenson died in 1914 in California. Her ashes were taken to Samoa and buried alonside her husband, on the summit of Mount Vaea. Stevenson's last work, WEIR OF HERMISTON (1896), was left unfinished, but is considered his masterpiece. His best-known work of horror, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, has since his death prompted several sequels by other hands, including Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes by Loren D. Estelman (1979), Jekyll, Alias Hyde: A Variation by Donald Thomas (1988), The Jekyll Legacy by Robert Bloch and Andre Norton (1990) and Mary Reilly by Valrie Matin (1990).
For further reading: Robert Louis Stevenson by Frank Swinnerton (1915); Robert Louis Stevenson and the Fiction of Adventure by Robert Kiely (1964); Robert Louis Stevenson and Romantic Tradition by Edwin M. Eigner (1966); Robert Louis Stevenson: A Life Study by Jenni Calder (1980); Definitive Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Companion by H.M. Geduld (1983); Robert Louis Stevenson by Frank McLynn (1993); Dreams of Exile: Robert Louis Stevenson: A Biography by Ian Bell (1993); A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion: A Guide to the Novels, Essays and Short Stories by J.R. Hammond (1984); The Edinburgh Literary Guide by Andrew Lownie (1992); Robert Louis Stevenson: A Biography by Frank McLynn (1993); Classic Horror Writers, ed. by Harold Bloom (1994); Robert Louis Stevenson: Life, Literature and the Silver Screen by Scott Allen Nollen (1994); Robert Louis Stevenson and the Appearance of Modernism: A Future Feeling by Alan Sandison (1996) - Museums: Robert Louis Stevenson's childhood home, 17 Heriot Row, Edinburgh; The Writers' Museum, Lady Stair's Close, Lawnmarket - Suom.: Suomeksi on myös ilmestynyt 1998 Stevensonilta esseekokoelma Kävelyretkistä.Selected bibliography:
- THE PENTLAND RISING: A PAGE OF HISTORY, 1666, 1866
- THE CHARITY BAZAAR, 1868
- ON THE THERMAL INFLUENCE OF FORESTS, 1873
- 'Roads,' 'On the Enjoyment of Unpleasant Places,' and 'Walking Tours', in The Portfolio and The Cornhill Magazine, 1873-1876 - Kävelyretkistä (suom. Alice Martin, 1997)
- AN APPEAL ON THE CLERGY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, WITH A NOTE FOR THE LAITY, 1875
- AN INLAND VOYAGE, 1878
- THE SUICIDE CLUB, 1878 (in London Magazine, collected in the New Arabian Nights, Vol. 1, 1882) - Itsemurhaajien klubi (suom. 1898) / Itsemurhaklubi (suom. Timo Hännikäinen, 2010)
- EDINBURGH, 1879
- TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY IN THE CÉVENNES, 1879
- DEACON BRODIE, 1880 (with W.E. Henley)
- THE SURPRISE, 1880
- TO F.S.J., 1881
- VIRGINIBUS PUERISQUE AND OTHER PAPERS, 1881 (contains 'Virginibus Puerisque', 'On Falling in Love', 'Truth of Intercourse', 'Crabbed Age and Youth', 'An Apology for Idlers', 'Ordered South', 'Aes Triplex', 'El Dorado', 'The English Admirals', 'Some Portraits by Raeburn', 'Child’s Play', 'Walking Tours', 'Pan's Pipes', 'A Plea for Gas Lamps') - Kävelyretkistä (suom. Alice Martin, 1997) .
- THE STORY OF A LIE, 1882
- FAMILIAR STUDIES OF MEN AND BOOKS, 1882
- NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS, 1882 (2 vols.)
- BLACK CANYON, 1882
- NOR I AND OTHER POEMS, 1882
- MORAL EMBLEMS, 1882
- A MARTIAL ELEGY FOR SOME LEAD SOLDIERS, 1882
- THE GRAVER & THE PEN, 1882
- ROBIN AND PEN, 1882
- THE SILVERADO SQUATTERS, 1883
- ISLAND NIGHT'S ENTERTAINMENT, 1883
- WE FOUND HIM FIRST AS IN THE DELLS OF DAY, 1883
- TO THE THOMPSON CLASS CLUB, 2FROM THEIR STAMMERING LAUREATE", 1883
- TREASURE ISLAND, 1883 (see also: Robinsonade Daniel Defoe) - Merirosvon testamentti (suom. 1899) / Aarresaari (suom. O. E. Lampén, 1904; Aulis Nopsanen; 1945; Hannes Korpi-Anttila, 1957; Jukka Kemppinen, 1976; Juhani Lindholm, 2001; Leena Heinonen, 2005) - Films: 1918, dir. by Chester M. Franklin and Sidney Franklin; 1920, dir. by Maurice Tourneur; 1934, dir. by Victor Fleming, starring Jackie Cooper and Wallace Beery; 1950; dir. by Byron Haskin;1972, dir. by John Hough, starring Kim Burfield and Orson Welles.
- ADMIRAL GUINEA, 1884 (with W.E. Henley)
- BEAU AUSTIN, 1884 (with W.E. Henley)
- A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES, 1885 - Lapsen runotarha (suom. Kirsi Kunnas, 1987)
- MORE NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS, 1885
- PRINCE OTTO, 1885
- MORE NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS, 1885 (with Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson)
- MACAIRE, 1885 (with W.E. Henley)
- THE LAUREAT STE'ENSON TO THE THAMSON CLASS, 1885
- KIDNAPPED, 1886 - Ryöstölapsi (suom. O.E. Lampén, 1910) / Ihmisryöstö: muistelmia David Balfour'in seikkailuista v. 1751 (suom. Aaro Kivilinna, 1937) / David Balfourin seikkailut (suom. Aaro Kivilinna ja Matti Kilpeläinen, 1955) / Kidnappaus kannella (suom. Päivi Saarinen, 2008)
- THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MISTER HYDE, 1886 - Tohtori Jekyll ja Mr. Hyde: kummallinen tapaus (suom. 1897) / Tri Jekyll ja Mr Hyde (suom. Väinö Koivisto, 1910) / Salaperäinen ovi (suom. 1911) / Tri Jekyll ja mr Hyde (suom. Ruth Wathén, 1945) / Tohtori Jekyll ja mr. Hyde (suom. Erkki Haglund, 1960) / Tri Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (suom. Jukka Heiskanen, 1992) / Jekyll ja Hyde ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Virpi Hämeen-Anttila, 2001) / Tohtori Jekyll ja herra Hyde (suom. Erkki Haglund, 2007) - Noteworthy films: 1920 (Der Januskopf), dir F.W, Murnau; 1920, dir. by John S. Robertson; 1931, dir. by Rouben Mamoulian; 1941; dir. by Victor Fleming, starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergamn, Lana Turner "... preposterous mixture of hokum and high-flown psychological balderdash... a Grand Guignol chiller with delusions of grandeur, a nightmare interpreted by a reader of tea leaves, a mulligan stew hidden under an expensive souffle." (Theodore Strauss, New York Times, August 13, 1941); 1951 (El hombre y la bestia), dir. by Mario Soffici; 1958 (Le testament du docteur Cordelier), dir. by Jean Renoir; 1963 (The Nutty Professor), dir. by Jerry Lewis; 1971 (Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde), dir. by Roy Ward Baker; Mary Reilly, dir. by Stephen Frears.
- SOME COLLEGE MEMORIES, 1886
- THE MERRY MEN AND OTHER TALES AND FABLES, 1887
- THOMAS STEVENSON, CIVIL ENGINEER, 1887
- MEMOIRS AND PORTRAITS, 1887
- UNDERWOODS, 1887
- TIGONDEROGA, 1887
- THE HANGING JUDGE, 1887 (with Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson)
- MEMOIR OF FLEEMING JENKIN, 1887
- THE BLACK ARROW: A TALE OF THE TWO ROSES, 1888 - Musta nuoli: kertomus Ruusujen ajalta (suom. 1913) - Film 1948, dir. by Gordon Douglas, starring Louis Hayward, Janet Blair, George Macready.
- THE MISADVENTURES OF JOHN NICHOLSON, 1888 - Hänen vastoinkäymisensä (suom. Valfrid Hedman, 1933)
- THE WRONG BOX, 1889
- THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE, 1889 - Veljekset (suom. 1921) - Film 1953, dir. by William Keighley.
- ON BOARD THE OLD "EQUATOR", 1889
- BALLADS, 1890
- THE SOUTH SEAS, 1890
- FATHER DAMIEN, 1890
- ACROSS THE PLAINS, 1892
- THE WRECKER, 1892 (with Lloyd Osborne)
- BEAU AUSTIN, 1892
- THREE PLAYS, 1892 (with W.E. Henley)
- THE BEACH OF FALESÁ, 1892
- A FOOTNOTE TO HISTORY, 1892
- CATRIONA, 1893 - Ryöstölapsi (suomennettu yhteisnimellä Kertomus David Balfourin seikkailuista hänen ryöstöstään, haaksirikostaan, kärsimyksistään autiolla saarella, harhailuistaan Highlandin länsiosissa, tuttavuudestansa Alan Breck Stewartin ja muiden kuuluisien highlantilaisten jakobiittien kanssa; käsittäen kaiken mitä hän, Ebenezer Balfour of Shawsiksi väärin nimitetyn enonsa käsissä sai kärsiä; jonka kertomuksen on kirjoittanut hän itse ja nyt julaissut Robert Louis Stevenson, suom. O.E. Lampén, 1910) / David Balfourin seikkailut (suom. Aaro Kivilinna, Matti Kilpeläinen, jatkoa teokseen Ryöstölapsi, 1910 / Ihmisryöstö, 1937)
- ISLAND NIGHT'S ENTERTAINMENTS, 1893 - Pannaan julistettu (suom. Valfrid Hedman, 1917) / Falesán seikkailu (suom. Olli Nuorto, 1946)
- THE EBB-TIDE, 1894
- THE AMATEUR EMIGRANT, 1895
- VAILIMA LETTERS, 1895
- THE BODY-SNATCHER, 1895
- IN THE SOUTH SEAS, 1896
- FAMILIAR EPISTLES IN PROSE AND VERSE, 1896
- A MOUNTAIN TOWN IN FRANCE, 1896
- PLAYS, 1896 (with W.E. Henley)
- FABLES, 1896 (published first time in Longman's Magazine, 1894) - Huomispäivän laulu (suom. Virpi Hämeen-Anttila, 2003)
- WEIR OF HERMISTON, 1896
- ST. IVES, BEING THE ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH PRISONER IN ENGLAND, 1897 (completed by Arthur Quiller-Couch)
- WORKS, 1894-98, (28 vols., ed. by Sidney Colvin)
- THREE SHORT POEMS, 1898
- A LOWDEN SABBATH MORN, 1898
- LETTERS TO HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS, 1899
- R.L.S. TEUILA, 1899
- THE MORALITY OF THE PROFESSION OF LETTERS, 1899
- A STEVENSON MEDLEY, 1899 (ed. by Sidney Colvin)
- A CHRISTMAS SERMON, 1900
- TRAVELS AND ESSAYS, 1900
- THREE LETTERS, 1902
- SOME LETTERS, 1902 (ed. by Horace Townsend)
- ESSAYS AND CRITICISMS, 1903
- PRAYERS WRITTEN AT WAILIMA, 1905
- TALES AND FANTASIES, 1905
- ESSAYS OF TRAVEL, 1905
- ESSAYS IN THE ART OF WRITING, 1905
- THRAWN JANET; MARKHEIM, 1906
- ESSAYS, 1906 (ed. by William Lyon Phelps)
- WORKS, 1906-07 (20 vols., ed. by Edmund Gosse)
- PAN'S PIPES, 1910
- THE LETTERS OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, 1911 (4 vols., ed. by Sidney Colvin)
- LAY MORALS AND OTHER PAPERS, 1911
- COLLECTED WORKS, 1908-12 (31 vols., ed. by Charles Scribner and Sons)
- WORKS, 1911-12 (25 vols.)
- RECORDS OF A FAMILY OF ENGINEERS, 1912
- MEMOIRS OF HIMSELF, 1912
- THE FLIGHT OF THE PRINCESS AND OTHER PIECES, 1912
- VERSES BY R.L. STEVENSON, 1912 (ed. by L.S. Livingston)
- POEMS AND BALLADS, 1913
- DESIDERATA: 1895, 1914
- LETTERS TO CHARLES BAXTER, 1914
- LETTERS TO A EDITOR, 1914 (ed. by 1914)
- FABLES, 1914
- POETICAL FRAGMENTS, 1915
- translator: AN ODE OF HORACE, 1916
- ON THE CHOICE OF A PFOFESSION, 1916
- THE WAIF WOMAN, 1916
- POEMS HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED, 1916 (2 vols., ed. by George S. Hellman)
- NEW POEMS AND VARIANT READINGS, 1918
- NEW POEMS AND VARIANT READING, 1918
- HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED PROSE WRITINGS, 1921 (ed. Henry H. Harper)
- CONFESSIONS OF A UNIONIST, 1921 (ed. by Flora V. Livingston)
- WORKS, 1922-23 (26 vols., Lloyd Osborne and Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson)
- MARKHEIM, 1925
- THE STORIES OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, 1928
- THE MEDIEVAL TALES, 1929
- THE MANUSCRIPTS OF STEVENSON'S RECORDS OF A FAMILY OF ENGINEERS, 1929
- THE TALES OF TUSITALA, 1946
- SELECTED WRITINGS OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, 1947
- HENRY JAMES AND ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, 1948
- TALES AND ESSAYS, 1950
- COLLECTED POEMS, 1950
- GREAT SHORT STORIES OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, 1951
- SILVERADO JOURNAL, 1954 (ed. by John E. Jordan)
- RLS: STEVENSON'S LETTERS TO CHARLES BAXTER, 1956 (ed. by De Lancey Ferguson and Marshall Waingrow)
- DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE AND OTHER TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL, 1963
- FROM SCOTLAND TO SILVERADO, 1966 (ed. by James D. Hart)
- THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES, 1969 (3 vols., ed. by Charles Neider)
- THE SUICIDE CLUB, 1970
- TRAVELS TO HAWAII, 1973 (ed. by A Grove Day)
- THE SUPERNATURAL SHORT STORIES OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, 1976
- SELECTED SHORT STORIES, 1980 (ed. by Ian Campbell)
- AN OLD SONG AND EDIFYING LETTERS OF THE RUTHERFORD FAMILY, 1982 (ed. by Roger C. Swearingen)
- FROM THE CLYDE TO CALIFORNIA, 1985 (ed. by Andrew Noble)
- ISLAND LANDFALLS, 1987 (ed. by Jenni Calder)
- THE LANTERN-BEARERS AND OTHER ESSAYS, 1988 (ed. by Jenny Treglawn)
- THE BODY SNATCHER AND OTHER STORIES, 1988
- THE SCOTTISH STORIES AND ESSAYS, 1989 (ed. by Kenneth Gelder)
- THE COMPLETE SHORTER FICTON, 1991 (ed. by Peter Stoneley)
- STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE AND OTHER STORIES, 1992
Posted in: WishesRobert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Scottish essayist, poet, and author of fiction and travel books, known especially for his novels of adventure. Stevenson's characters often prefer unknown hazards to everyday life of the Victorian society. His most famous examination of the split personality is THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1886). Many of Stevenson's stories are set in colorful locations, they have also horror and supernatural elements. Arguing against realism, Stevenson underlined the "nameless longings of the reader", the desire for experience.
Stevenson was largely raised by his nanny, Alison Cunningham, whom he devoted A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES (1885). Cunningham had strong Calvinist convictions and praying became part of Stevenson's early life, and later reflected in such pieces like the poem 'A Thought': "It is very nice to think / The world is full of meat and drink, / With little children saying grace / In every Christian kind of place."
Since his childhood, Stevenson suffered from tuberculosis. During his early years, he spent much of his time in bed, composing stories before he had learned to read. At the age of sixteen, he produced a short historical tale. As an adult, there were times when Stevenson could not wear a jacket for fear of bringing on a haemorrhage of the lung. In 1867, he entered Edinburgh University to study engineering. Due to his ill health, he had to abandon his plans to follow in his father's footsteps. Stevenson changed to law and in 1875 he was called to the Scottish bar. By then he had already started to write travel sketches, essays, and short stories for magazines. His first articles were published in The Edinburgh University Magazine (1871) and The Portofolio (1873).
In a attempt to improve his health, Stevenson travelled on the Continent and in the Scottish Highland. These trips provided him with many insights and inspiration for his writing, although sometimes could take a long time before Stevenson edited for publication his notes and sketches.
Stevenson's tone in his travelogues is often jovial or satirical. However, constant voyaging was not always easy for him. In a letter, written on his journey across the Atlantic in 1879, he complained: "I have a strange, rather horrible, sense of the sea before me, and can see no further into future. I can say honestly I have at this moment neither a regret, a hope, a fear or an inclination; except a mild one for a bottle of good wine which I resist". Due to his poor health, Stevenson spent much time in warmer countries.
Stevenson's own early favorite books, which influenced his imagination and thinking, included Shakespeare's Hamlet, Dumas's adventure tale of the elderly D'Artagan, Vicomte de Bragelone, and Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, "a book which tumbled the world upside down for me, blew into space a thousand cobwebs of genteel and ethical illusion, and having thus shaken my tabernacle of lies, set me back again upon a strong foundation of all the original and manly virtues." (from Reading in Bed, ed. by Steven Gilbar, 1995) Also Montaigne's Essais and the Gospel according to St. Matthew were very important for him.
An account of Stevenson's canoe tour of France and Belgium was published in 1878 as AN INLAND VOYAGE. It was followed by TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY IN THE CÉVENNES, based on his walking trip in France, during which he learned to control himself as well as his stubborn donkey. "I travel for travel's sake," Stevenson wrote. "The great affair is to move." With his friend William Ernest Henley he wrote several plays. While in France Stevenson met Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne, a married woman with two children, Belle and Lloyd. Fanny was 10 years older than Stevenson, who viewed her as an "exotic goddess". She returned to the United States to get a divorce. In 187,9 Stevenson followed her to California, where they married in 1880. After a brief stay at Calistoga, which was recorded in THE SILVERADO SQUATTERS (1883), they returned to Scotland, and then moved often in search of better climates.
A Child's Garden of Verses was a success – its poems have also become popular as songs. Stevenson's other major works from the 1880s are KIDNAPPED (1886), the story of David Balfour, his distant ancestor, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, based on a dream and written and printed in 10 weeks, THE BLACK ARROW (1888), set in the era of the War of the Roses, and MASTER OF BALLANTRAE (1889). He also contributed to various periodicals, including The Cornhill Magazine and Longman's Magazine, where his best-known article 'A Humble Remonstrance' was published in 1884. This replay to Henry James's 'The Art of Fiction' launched a lifelong friendship between the two authors. Stevenson saw that the novel is a selection of and reorganization of certain aspects of life – "life is monstrous, infinite, illogical, abrupt and poignant; a work of art, in comparison, is neat, finite, self-contained, rational, flowing and emasculate."
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, published in January of 1886, sold 40,000 copies in six months in Britain. Stevenson once said, that its plot was revealed to him in a dream. The mystery of Jekyll and Hyde is gradually revealed through the narratives of Mr Enfield, Mr Utterson, Dr Lanyon, and Jekyll's butler Poole. Utterson, Jekyll's lawyer, discovers that the nasty Mr. Edward Hyde is the heir of Dr. Jekyll's fortune. Hyde is suspected of a murder. Utterson and Poole break into Jekyll's laboratory and find the lifeless Hyde. Two documents explain the mystery: Jekyll's old friend, the late Dr. Lanyon, tells that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. In his own account Jekyll tells that to separate the good and evil aspects of his nature, he invented a transforming drug. His evil self takes the form of the repulsive Mr Hyde. Jekyll's supplies of drugs run out and he finds himself slipping involuntarily into being Hyde. Jekyll kills himself, but the last words of the confession are written by his alter ego: "Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Dr. Jekyll to an end."
The story has been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality, but it can be read as a comment on Charles Darwin's book The Origin of Species – Dr. Jekyll turns in his experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured human being. Henry James admired Stevenson's "genuine feeling for the perpetual moral question, a fresh sense of the difficulty of being good and the brutishness of being bad". ('Robert Louis Stevenson' by Henry James in Century Magazine 35, April 1888) Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the split in man's psyche between ego and instinct, although the "split" takes the form of a physical change, rather than inner dissociation. And it has been argued, that the conflict between Jekyll and Hyde reveals era's class phobias. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has taken a place as an icon of popular culture and adapted among others into screen over 20 times. The tale of double personality and metamorphosis appealed strongly to Victorian readers. The novel was partly based on Stevenson's and W.E. Henley's play DEACON BRODIA (1880), where an Edinburgh councilor is publicly respectable person, but privately a thief and rakehell. The basic theme of true identity has inspired such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein, 1818), Hans Christian Andersen ('The Ugly Duckling', 1845), Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment, 1866), Bram Stoker (Dracula, 1897), Franz Kafka ('Metamorphosis', 1915).
Stevenson's father died in 1887. From the late 1880s, Stevenson lived with his family in the South Seas, where he had purchased an estate in Vailima, Samoa. During this period of his life, Stevenson enjoyed a comparative good health. With his stepson Lloyd Osbourne he wrote THE WRONG BOX (1889) and other works. He had nearly 20 servants and was known as 'Tusitala' or 'Teller of the Tales'. The writer himself translated it 'Chief White Information.' Fanny was called 'Flying Cloud' – perhaps referring to her restlessness. She had also suffered a mental breakdown in 1893.
In his short story 'The Bottle Imp', set on the island of Hawaii, Stevenson asked the question, does a sudden luck of fortune wipe out one's problems. Keawe, a poor man, buy's a bottle, tempered in the flames of hell. An imp lives inside it and is at the buyer's command fulfilling all desires. "'Here am I now upon my high place,' he said to himself. 'Life may be no better; this is the mountain top; and all shelves about me toward the worse. For the first time I will light up the chambers, and bathe in my fine bath with the hot water and the cold, and sleep above in the bed of my bridal chamber.'" Fascinated by the Polynesian culture, Stevenson wrote several letters to The Times on the islanders' behalf and published novels ISLAND NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS (1893), which contains his famous story 'The Beach of Falesá', and THE EBB-TIDE (1894), which condemned the European colonial exploitation.
Stevenson died of a brain haemorrhage on December 3, 1894, in Vailima. Fanny Stevenson died in 1914 in California. Her ashes were taken to Samoa and buried alonside her husband, on the summit of Mount Vaea. Stevenson's last work, WEIR OF HERMISTON (1896), was left unfinished, but is considered his masterpiece. His best-known work of horror, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, has since his death prompted several sequels by other hands, including Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes by Loren D. Estelman (1979), Jekyll, Alias Hyde: A Variation by Donald Thomas (1988), The Jekyll Legacy by Robert Bloch and Andre Norton (1990) and Mary Reilly by Valrie Matin (1990).
"But we are so fond of life that we have no leisure to entertain the terror of death. It is a honeymoon with us all through, and none of the longest. Small blame to us if we give our whole hearts to this glowing bride of ours, to the appetities, to honour, to the hungry curiosity of the mind, to the pleasure of the eyes in nature, and the pride of our own nimble bodies." (from 'Aes Triplex')Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson was born in Edinburgh. He was the only son of Thomas Stevenson, a prosperous joint-engineer to the Board of Northern Lighthouses, and Margaret Balfour, daughter of a Scottish clergyman. Thomas Stevenson invented, among others, the marine dynamometer, which measures the force of waves. Thomas's grandfather was Britain's greatest builder of lighthouses.
Stevenson was largely raised by his nanny, Alison Cunningham, whom he devoted A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES (1885). Cunningham had strong Calvinist convictions and praying became part of Stevenson's early life, and later reflected in such pieces like the poem 'A Thought': "It is very nice to think / The world is full of meat and drink, / With little children saying grace / In every Christian kind of place."
Since his childhood, Stevenson suffered from tuberculosis. During his early years, he spent much of his time in bed, composing stories before he had learned to read. At the age of sixteen, he produced a short historical tale. As an adult, there were times when Stevenson could not wear a jacket for fear of bringing on a haemorrhage of the lung. In 1867, he entered Edinburgh University to study engineering. Due to his ill health, he had to abandon his plans to follow in his father's footsteps. Stevenson changed to law and in 1875 he was called to the Scottish bar. By then he had already started to write travel sketches, essays, and short stories for magazines. His first articles were published in The Edinburgh University Magazine (1871) and The Portofolio (1873).
In a attempt to improve his health, Stevenson travelled on the Continent and in the Scottish Highland. These trips provided him with many insights and inspiration for his writing, although sometimes could take a long time before Stevenson edited for publication his notes and sketches.
Stevenson's tone in his travelogues is often jovial or satirical. However, constant voyaging was not always easy for him. In a letter, written on his journey across the Atlantic in 1879, he complained: "I have a strange, rather horrible, sense of the sea before me, and can see no further into future. I can say honestly I have at this moment neither a regret, a hope, a fear or an inclination; except a mild one for a bottle of good wine which I resist". Due to his poor health, Stevenson spent much time in warmer countries.
Stevenson's own early favorite books, which influenced his imagination and thinking, included Shakespeare's Hamlet, Dumas's adventure tale of the elderly D'Artagan, Vicomte de Bragelone, and Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, "a book which tumbled the world upside down for me, blew into space a thousand cobwebs of genteel and ethical illusion, and having thus shaken my tabernacle of lies, set me back again upon a strong foundation of all the original and manly virtues." (from Reading in Bed, ed. by Steven Gilbar, 1995) Also Montaigne's Essais and the Gospel according to St. Matthew were very important for him.
An account of Stevenson's canoe tour of France and Belgium was published in 1878 as AN INLAND VOYAGE. It was followed by TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY IN THE CÉVENNES, based on his walking trip in France, during which he learned to control himself as well as his stubborn donkey. "I travel for travel's sake," Stevenson wrote. "The great affair is to move." With his friend William Ernest Henley he wrote several plays. While in France Stevenson met Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne, a married woman with two children, Belle and Lloyd. Fanny was 10 years older than Stevenson, who viewed her as an "exotic goddess". She returned to the United States to get a divorce. In 187,9 Stevenson followed her to California, where they married in 1880. After a brief stay at Calistoga, which was recorded in THE SILVERADO SQUATTERS (1883), they returned to Scotland, and then moved often in search of better climates.
Wealth I ask not, hope nor love,Stevenson gained first fame with the romantic adventure story TREASURE ISLAND, a combination of travel adventure and romance. This work appeared first serialized in Young Folks 1881-82. Before its publication in book form Stevenson revised the text. The central character is Jim Hawkins, whose mother keeps an inn near the coast in the West Country. Jim meets an old pirate, Billy Bones, who has in his possession a map showing the location of Captain Flint's treasure. Bones dies after a second visit of his enemies. Jim, his mother, and a blind man named Pew, open Bones's sea chest and finds an oilskin packet containing the map. Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, Jim, and a small crew with Captain Smollett sail for Treasure Island. Jim discovers that the crew of the Hispaniola includes pirates, led by a personable one-legged man named Long John Silver, the cook of the ship. On a journey to the island interior, Jim encounters Ben Gunn, former shipmate of the pirates. After several adventures the pirates are defeated, Jim befriends with Long John, and the treasure is found. Jim and his friends sail back to England. Long John Silver manages to escape, taking as much gold as he can carry. The famous poem from the novel ("Fifteen men on the dead man's chest / Yo-ho-ho, and the bottle of rum!/ Drink and the devil had done for the rest – Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!) could have originally been "Fifteen men on the Dead Man's Chest... referring to a Caribbean Island Dead Chest. According to a tale, the notorious pirate Edward Teach left fifteen men on the island of Dead Man's Chest, with a bottle of rum and a sword.
Nor a friend to know me;
All I ask, the heaven above
And the road below me.
(from Songs of Travel)
A Child's Garden of Verses was a success – its poems have also become popular as songs. Stevenson's other major works from the 1880s are KIDNAPPED (1886), the story of David Balfour, his distant ancestor, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, based on a dream and written and printed in 10 weeks, THE BLACK ARROW (1888), set in the era of the War of the Roses, and MASTER OF BALLANTRAE (1889). He also contributed to various periodicals, including The Cornhill Magazine and Longman's Magazine, where his best-known article 'A Humble Remonstrance' was published in 1884. This replay to Henry James's 'The Art of Fiction' launched a lifelong friendship between the two authors. Stevenson saw that the novel is a selection of and reorganization of certain aspects of life – "life is monstrous, infinite, illogical, abrupt and poignant; a work of art, in comparison, is neat, finite, self-contained, rational, flowing and emasculate."
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, published in January of 1886, sold 40,000 copies in six months in Britain. Stevenson once said, that its plot was revealed to him in a dream. The mystery of Jekyll and Hyde is gradually revealed through the narratives of Mr Enfield, Mr Utterson, Dr Lanyon, and Jekyll's butler Poole. Utterson, Jekyll's lawyer, discovers that the nasty Mr. Edward Hyde is the heir of Dr. Jekyll's fortune. Hyde is suspected of a murder. Utterson and Poole break into Jekyll's laboratory and find the lifeless Hyde. Two documents explain the mystery: Jekyll's old friend, the late Dr. Lanyon, tells that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. In his own account Jekyll tells that to separate the good and evil aspects of his nature, he invented a transforming drug. His evil self takes the form of the repulsive Mr Hyde. Jekyll's supplies of drugs run out and he finds himself slipping involuntarily into being Hyde. Jekyll kills himself, but the last words of the confession are written by his alter ego: "Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Dr. Jekyll to an end."
The story has been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality, but it can be read as a comment on Charles Darwin's book The Origin of Species – Dr. Jekyll turns in his experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured human being. Henry James admired Stevenson's "genuine feeling for the perpetual moral question, a fresh sense of the difficulty of being good and the brutishness of being bad". ('Robert Louis Stevenson' by Henry James in Century Magazine 35, April 1888) Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the split in man's psyche between ego and instinct, although the "split" takes the form of a physical change, rather than inner dissociation. And it has been argued, that the conflict between Jekyll and Hyde reveals era's class phobias. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has taken a place as an icon of popular culture and adapted among others into screen over 20 times. The tale of double personality and metamorphosis appealed strongly to Victorian readers. The novel was partly based on Stevenson's and W.E. Henley's play DEACON BRODIA (1880), where an Edinburgh councilor is publicly respectable person, but privately a thief and rakehell. The basic theme of true identity has inspired such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein, 1818), Hans Christian Andersen ('The Ugly Duckling', 1845), Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment, 1866), Bram Stoker (Dracula, 1897), Franz Kafka ('Metamorphosis', 1915).
Stevenson's father died in 1887. From the late 1880s, Stevenson lived with his family in the South Seas, where he had purchased an estate in Vailima, Samoa. During this period of his life, Stevenson enjoyed a comparative good health. With his stepson Lloyd Osbourne he wrote THE WRONG BOX (1889) and other works. He had nearly 20 servants and was known as 'Tusitala' or 'Teller of the Tales'. The writer himself translated it 'Chief White Information.' Fanny was called 'Flying Cloud' – perhaps referring to her restlessness. She had also suffered a mental breakdown in 1893.
In his short story 'The Bottle Imp', set on the island of Hawaii, Stevenson asked the question, does a sudden luck of fortune wipe out one's problems. Keawe, a poor man, buy's a bottle, tempered in the flames of hell. An imp lives inside it and is at the buyer's command fulfilling all desires. "'Here am I now upon my high place,' he said to himself. 'Life may be no better; this is the mountain top; and all shelves about me toward the worse. For the first time I will light up the chambers, and bathe in my fine bath with the hot water and the cold, and sleep above in the bed of my bridal chamber.'" Fascinated by the Polynesian culture, Stevenson wrote several letters to The Times on the islanders' behalf and published novels ISLAND NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS (1893), which contains his famous story 'The Beach of Falesá', and THE EBB-TIDE (1894), which condemned the European colonial exploitation.
Stevenson died of a brain haemorrhage on December 3, 1894, in Vailima. Fanny Stevenson died in 1914 in California. Her ashes were taken to Samoa and buried alonside her husband, on the summit of Mount Vaea. Stevenson's last work, WEIR OF HERMISTON (1896), was left unfinished, but is considered his masterpiece. His best-known work of horror, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, has since his death prompted several sequels by other hands, including Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes by Loren D. Estelman (1979), Jekyll, Alias Hyde: A Variation by Donald Thomas (1988), The Jekyll Legacy by Robert Bloch and Andre Norton (1990) and Mary Reilly by Valrie Matin (1990).
For further reading: Robert Louis Stevenson by Frank Swinnerton (1915); Robert Louis Stevenson and the Fiction of Adventure by Robert Kiely (1964); Robert Louis Stevenson and Romantic Tradition by Edwin M. Eigner (1966); Robert Louis Stevenson: A Life Study by Jenni Calder (1980); Definitive Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Companion by H.M. Geduld (1983); Robert Louis Stevenson by Frank McLynn (1993); Dreams of Exile: Robert Louis Stevenson: A Biography by Ian Bell (1993); A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion: A Guide to the Novels, Essays and Short Stories by J.R. Hammond (1984); The Edinburgh Literary Guide by Andrew Lownie (1992); Robert Louis Stevenson: A Biography by Frank McLynn (1993); Classic Horror Writers, ed. by Harold Bloom (1994); Robert Louis Stevenson: Life, Literature and the Silver Screen by Scott Allen Nollen (1994); Robert Louis Stevenson and the Appearance of Modernism: A Future Feeling by Alan Sandison (1996) - Museums: Robert Louis Stevenson's childhood home, 17 Heriot Row, Edinburgh; The Writers' Museum, Lady Stair's Close, Lawnmarket - Suom.: Suomeksi on myös ilmestynyt 1998 Stevensonilta esseekokoelma Kävelyretkistä.Selected bibliography:
- THE PENTLAND RISING: A PAGE OF HISTORY, 1666, 1866
- THE CHARITY BAZAAR, 1868
- ON THE THERMAL INFLUENCE OF FORESTS, 1873
- 'Roads,' 'On the Enjoyment of Unpleasant Places,' and 'Walking Tours', in The Portfolio and The Cornhill Magazine, 1873-1876 - Kävelyretkistä (suom. Alice Martin, 1997)
- AN APPEAL ON THE CLERGY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, WITH A NOTE FOR THE LAITY, 1875
- AN INLAND VOYAGE, 1878
- THE SUICIDE CLUB, 1878 (in London Magazine, collected in the New Arabian Nights, Vol. 1, 1882) - Itsemurhaajien klubi (suom. 1898) / Itsemurhaklubi (suom. Timo Hännikäinen, 2010)
- EDINBURGH, 1879
- TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY IN THE CÉVENNES, 1879
- DEACON BRODIE, 1880 (with W.E. Henley)
- THE SURPRISE, 1880
- TO F.S.J., 1881
- VIRGINIBUS PUERISQUE AND OTHER PAPERS, 1881 (contains 'Virginibus Puerisque', 'On Falling in Love', 'Truth of Intercourse', 'Crabbed Age and Youth', 'An Apology for Idlers', 'Ordered South', 'Aes Triplex', 'El Dorado', 'The English Admirals', 'Some Portraits by Raeburn', 'Child’s Play', 'Walking Tours', 'Pan's Pipes', 'A Plea for Gas Lamps') - Kävelyretkistä (suom. Alice Martin, 1997) .
- THE STORY OF A LIE, 1882
- FAMILIAR STUDIES OF MEN AND BOOKS, 1882
- NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS, 1882 (2 vols.)
- BLACK CANYON, 1882
- NOR I AND OTHER POEMS, 1882
- MORAL EMBLEMS, 1882
- A MARTIAL ELEGY FOR SOME LEAD SOLDIERS, 1882
- THE GRAVER & THE PEN, 1882
- ROBIN AND PEN, 1882
- THE SILVERADO SQUATTERS, 1883
- ISLAND NIGHT'S ENTERTAINMENT, 1883
- WE FOUND HIM FIRST AS IN THE DELLS OF DAY, 1883
- TO THE THOMPSON CLASS CLUB, 2FROM THEIR STAMMERING LAUREATE", 1883
- TREASURE ISLAND, 1883 (see also: Robinsonade Daniel Defoe) - Merirosvon testamentti (suom. 1899) / Aarresaari (suom. O. E. Lampén, 1904; Aulis Nopsanen; 1945; Hannes Korpi-Anttila, 1957; Jukka Kemppinen, 1976; Juhani Lindholm, 2001; Leena Heinonen, 2005) - Films: 1918, dir. by Chester M. Franklin and Sidney Franklin; 1920, dir. by Maurice Tourneur; 1934, dir. by Victor Fleming, starring Jackie Cooper and Wallace Beery; 1950; dir. by Byron Haskin;1972, dir. by John Hough, starring Kim Burfield and Orson Welles.
- ADMIRAL GUINEA, 1884 (with W.E. Henley)
- BEAU AUSTIN, 1884 (with W.E. Henley)
- A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES, 1885 - Lapsen runotarha (suom. Kirsi Kunnas, 1987)
- MORE NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS, 1885
- PRINCE OTTO, 1885
- MORE NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS, 1885 (with Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson)
- MACAIRE, 1885 (with W.E. Henley)
- THE LAUREAT STE'ENSON TO THE THAMSON CLASS, 1885
- KIDNAPPED, 1886 - Ryöstölapsi (suom. O.E. Lampén, 1910) / Ihmisryöstö: muistelmia David Balfour'in seikkailuista v. 1751 (suom. Aaro Kivilinna, 1937) / David Balfourin seikkailut (suom. Aaro Kivilinna ja Matti Kilpeläinen, 1955) / Kidnappaus kannella (suom. Päivi Saarinen, 2008)
- THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MISTER HYDE, 1886 - Tohtori Jekyll ja Mr. Hyde: kummallinen tapaus (suom. 1897) / Tri Jekyll ja Mr Hyde (suom. Väinö Koivisto, 1910) / Salaperäinen ovi (suom. 1911) / Tri Jekyll ja mr Hyde (suom. Ruth Wathén, 1945) / Tohtori Jekyll ja mr. Hyde (suom. Erkki Haglund, 1960) / Tri Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (suom. Jukka Heiskanen, 1992) / Jekyll ja Hyde ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Virpi Hämeen-Anttila, 2001) / Tohtori Jekyll ja herra Hyde (suom. Erkki Haglund, 2007) - Noteworthy films: 1920 (Der Januskopf), dir F.W, Murnau; 1920, dir. by John S. Robertson; 1931, dir. by Rouben Mamoulian; 1941; dir. by Victor Fleming, starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergamn, Lana Turner "... preposterous mixture of hokum and high-flown psychological balderdash... a Grand Guignol chiller with delusions of grandeur, a nightmare interpreted by a reader of tea leaves, a mulligan stew hidden under an expensive souffle." (Theodore Strauss, New York Times, August 13, 1941); 1951 (El hombre y la bestia), dir. by Mario Soffici; 1958 (Le testament du docteur Cordelier), dir. by Jean Renoir; 1963 (The Nutty Professor), dir. by Jerry Lewis; 1971 (Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde), dir. by Roy Ward Baker; Mary Reilly, dir. by Stephen Frears.
- SOME COLLEGE MEMORIES, 1886
- THE MERRY MEN AND OTHER TALES AND FABLES, 1887
- THOMAS STEVENSON, CIVIL ENGINEER, 1887
- MEMOIRS AND PORTRAITS, 1887
- UNDERWOODS, 1887
- TIGONDEROGA, 1887
- THE HANGING JUDGE, 1887 (with Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson)
- MEMOIR OF FLEEMING JENKIN, 1887
- THE BLACK ARROW: A TALE OF THE TWO ROSES, 1888 - Musta nuoli: kertomus Ruusujen ajalta (suom. 1913) - Film 1948, dir. by Gordon Douglas, starring Louis Hayward, Janet Blair, George Macready.
- THE MISADVENTURES OF JOHN NICHOLSON, 1888 - Hänen vastoinkäymisensä (suom. Valfrid Hedman, 1933)
- THE WRONG BOX, 1889
- THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE, 1889 - Veljekset (suom. 1921) - Film 1953, dir. by William Keighley.
- ON BOARD THE OLD "EQUATOR", 1889
- BALLADS, 1890
- THE SOUTH SEAS, 1890
- FATHER DAMIEN, 1890
- ACROSS THE PLAINS, 1892
- THE WRECKER, 1892 (with Lloyd Osborne)
- BEAU AUSTIN, 1892
- THREE PLAYS, 1892 (with W.E. Henley)
- THE BEACH OF FALESÁ, 1892
- A FOOTNOTE TO HISTORY, 1892
- CATRIONA, 1893 - Ryöstölapsi (suomennettu yhteisnimellä Kertomus David Balfourin seikkailuista hänen ryöstöstään, haaksirikostaan, kärsimyksistään autiolla saarella, harhailuistaan Highlandin länsiosissa, tuttavuudestansa Alan Breck Stewartin ja muiden kuuluisien highlantilaisten jakobiittien kanssa; käsittäen kaiken mitä hän, Ebenezer Balfour of Shawsiksi väärin nimitetyn enonsa käsissä sai kärsiä; jonka kertomuksen on kirjoittanut hän itse ja nyt julaissut Robert Louis Stevenson, suom. O.E. Lampén, 1910) / David Balfourin seikkailut (suom. Aaro Kivilinna, Matti Kilpeläinen, jatkoa teokseen Ryöstölapsi, 1910 / Ihmisryöstö, 1937)
- ISLAND NIGHT'S ENTERTAINMENTS, 1893 - Pannaan julistettu (suom. Valfrid Hedman, 1917) / Falesán seikkailu (suom. Olli Nuorto, 1946)
- THE EBB-TIDE, 1894
- THE AMATEUR EMIGRANT, 1895
- VAILIMA LETTERS, 1895
- THE BODY-SNATCHER, 1895
- IN THE SOUTH SEAS, 1896
- FAMILIAR EPISTLES IN PROSE AND VERSE, 1896
- A MOUNTAIN TOWN IN FRANCE, 1896
- PLAYS, 1896 (with W.E. Henley)
- FABLES, 1896 (published first time in Longman's Magazine, 1894) - Huomispäivän laulu (suom. Virpi Hämeen-Anttila, 2003)
- WEIR OF HERMISTON, 1896
- ST. IVES, BEING THE ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH PRISONER IN ENGLAND, 1897 (completed by Arthur Quiller-Couch)
- WORKS, 1894-98, (28 vols., ed. by Sidney Colvin)
- THREE SHORT POEMS, 1898
- A LOWDEN SABBATH MORN, 1898
- LETTERS TO HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS, 1899
- R.L.S. TEUILA, 1899
- THE MORALITY OF THE PROFESSION OF LETTERS, 1899
- A STEVENSON MEDLEY, 1899 (ed. by Sidney Colvin)
- A CHRISTMAS SERMON, 1900
- TRAVELS AND ESSAYS, 1900
- THREE LETTERS, 1902
- SOME LETTERS, 1902 (ed. by Horace Townsend)
- ESSAYS AND CRITICISMS, 1903
- PRAYERS WRITTEN AT WAILIMA, 1905
- TALES AND FANTASIES, 1905
- ESSAYS OF TRAVEL, 1905
- ESSAYS IN THE ART OF WRITING, 1905
- THRAWN JANET; MARKHEIM, 1906
- ESSAYS, 1906 (ed. by William Lyon Phelps)
- WORKS, 1906-07 (20 vols., ed. by Edmund Gosse)
- PAN'S PIPES, 1910
- THE LETTERS OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, 1911 (4 vols., ed. by Sidney Colvin)
- LAY MORALS AND OTHER PAPERS, 1911
- COLLECTED WORKS, 1908-12 (31 vols., ed. by Charles Scribner and Sons)
- WORKS, 1911-12 (25 vols.)
- RECORDS OF A FAMILY OF ENGINEERS, 1912
- MEMOIRS OF HIMSELF, 1912
- THE FLIGHT OF THE PRINCESS AND OTHER PIECES, 1912
- VERSES BY R.L. STEVENSON, 1912 (ed. by L.S. Livingston)
- POEMS AND BALLADS, 1913
- DESIDERATA: 1895, 1914
- LETTERS TO CHARLES BAXTER, 1914
- LETTERS TO A EDITOR, 1914 (ed. by 1914)
- FABLES, 1914
- POETICAL FRAGMENTS, 1915
- translator: AN ODE OF HORACE, 1916
- ON THE CHOICE OF A PFOFESSION, 1916
- THE WAIF WOMAN, 1916
- POEMS HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED, 1916 (2 vols., ed. by George S. Hellman)
- NEW POEMS AND VARIANT READINGS, 1918
- NEW POEMS AND VARIANT READING, 1918
- HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED PROSE WRITINGS, 1921 (ed. Henry H. Harper)
- CONFESSIONS OF A UNIONIST, 1921 (ed. by Flora V. Livingston)
- WORKS, 1922-23 (26 vols., Lloyd Osborne and Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson)
- MARKHEIM, 1925
- THE STORIES OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, 1928
- THE MEDIEVAL TALES, 1929
- THE MANUSCRIPTS OF STEVENSON'S RECORDS OF A FAMILY OF ENGINEERS, 1929
- THE TALES OF TUSITALA, 1946
- SELECTED WRITINGS OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, 1947
- HENRY JAMES AND ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, 1948
- TALES AND ESSAYS, 1950
- COLLECTED POEMS, 1950
- GREAT SHORT STORIES OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, 1951
- SILVERADO JOURNAL, 1954 (ed. by John E. Jordan)
- RLS: STEVENSON'S LETTERS TO CHARLES BAXTER, 1956 (ed. by De Lancey Ferguson and Marshall Waingrow)
- DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE AND OTHER TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL, 1963
- FROM SCOTLAND TO SILVERADO, 1966 (ed. by James D. Hart)
- THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES, 1969 (3 vols., ed. by Charles Neider)
- THE SUICIDE CLUB, 1970
- TRAVELS TO HAWAII, 1973 (ed. by A Grove Day)
- THE SUPERNATURAL SHORT STORIES OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, 1976
- SELECTED SHORT STORIES, 1980 (ed. by Ian Campbell)
- AN OLD SONG AND EDIFYING LETTERS OF THE RUTHERFORD FAMILY, 1982 (ed. by Roger C. Swearingen)
- FROM THE CLYDE TO CALIFORNIA, 1985 (ed. by Andrew Noble)
- ISLAND LANDFALLS, 1987 (ed. by Jenni Calder)
- THE LANTERN-BEARERS AND OTHER ESSAYS, 1988 (ed. by Jenny Treglawn)
- THE BODY SNATCHER AND OTHER STORIES, 1988
- THE SCOTTISH STORIES AND ESSAYS, 1989 (ed. by Kenneth Gelder)
- THE COMPLETE SHORTER FICTON, 1991 (ed. by Peter Stoneley)
- STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE AND OTHER STORIES, 1992
Posted in: WishesSunday, November 7, 2010
Google Doodle Celebrates X-Rays’ 115th Birthday
Google will release a new doodle tomorrow, November 8, in celebration of the 115 th anniversary of x-rays. Their discovery was made by German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, in 1895. They are a form of radiation composed of rays and the most common use is in diagnostic radiography. X-rays are used by hospitals, dentist and even veterinarians, in order to study things like broken bones or damage to tooth structure, which are not observed any other way.
Google transformed its iconic worldwide known logo into an animation of an x-ray film, which shows Google’s “bones” and other cute details such as a rubber duck, a key and marbles.
X-rays’ discovery has been a revelation and a life saver since 1895 and Google has decided to share its appreciation and consideration for the major breakthrough represented by Rontgen’s discovery. I would advise that you look up “x-rays” and get more familiar with the phenomenon, as Google is obviously trying to get people’s attention on their massive importance.
Google Doodle Celebrates X-Rays’ 115th Birthday
Google will release a new doodle tomorrow, November 8, in celebration of the 115 th anniversary of x-rays. Their discovery was made by German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, in 1895. They are a form of radiation composed of rays and the most common use is in diagnostic radiography. X-rays are used by hospitals, dentist and even veterinarians, in order to study things like broken bones or damage to tooth structure, which are not observed any other way.
Google transformed its iconic worldwide known logo into an animation of an x-ray film, which shows Google’s “bones” and other cute details such as a rubber duck, a key and marbles.
X-rays’ discovery has been a revelation and a life saver since 1895 and Google has decided to share its appreciation and consideration for the major breakthrough represented by Rontgen’s discovery. I would advise that you look up “x-rays” and get more familiar with the phenomenon, as Google is obviously trying to get people’s attention on their massive importance.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Deepavali - The Brightest Festival
Deepavali - The Brightest Festival
Diwali, popularly called Deepavali in some parts of India, is a festival which we all long for every year. The preparations for Deepavali start long before the festival date.
First, the excitement for us would be the new dresses that are bought to be worn for Deepavali. Since Deepavali is a festival for more than 2 days, we have 2 or 3 new dresses. Apart from this all elders visiting us buy us sweets and dresses also. Jeans, T shirts, Trousers and shirts were all bought for me by my parents.
The other major excitement for Deepavali is the bursting of crackers and fireworks. This year we burst lot of crackers. Earlier I used to be afraid of crackers. Now I have got over the fear of bursting crackers. My parents tell me that I have to be very careful while bursting. I followed their advice and there was no fire accident also. Sparklers, Rockets, Ground Chakkars and Flower pots were our favorites besides the Thousand thousand sparks bomb.
The third rejoicing aspect of Deepavali is the eating of sweets. We visit relatives and friends with sweets and snacks. They also visit us with sweets and snacks. We seek their blessings on the festival day. Gulab jamun, Laddoos, Halwas and Kaju cakes were my favorites.
My grandmother tells me that the victory of Good over Evil is the reason for this celebration. She also says that the festival is to mark the return of Rama to Ayodhya after his defeat of Ravana.
Lots of people also start new ventures on this day after performing Lakshmi Puja. This is marked by lighting of lamps, candles and diyas by the women folk in the family. The light and colour add to the celebrations.
In all, I can say that Deepavali is the brightest festival to be celebrated in India. The delicious food associated with the feast makes us feel that this festival must come more often in a year.
Diwali, popularly called Deepavali in some parts of India, is a festival which we all long for every year. The preparations for Deepavali start long before the festival date.
First, the excitement for us would be the new dresses that are bought to be worn for Deepavali. Since Deepavali is a festival for more than 2 days, we have 2 or 3 new dresses. Apart from this all elders visiting us buy us sweets and dresses also. Jeans, T shirts, Trousers and shirts were all bought for me by my parents.
The other major excitement for Deepavali is the bursting of crackers and fireworks. This year we burst lot of crackers. Earlier I used to be afraid of crackers. Now I have got over the fear of bursting crackers. My parents tell me that I have to be very careful while bursting. I followed their advice and there was no fire accident also. Sparklers, Rockets, Ground Chakkars and Flower pots were our favorites besides the Thousand thousand sparks bomb.
The third rejoicing aspect of Deepavali is the eating of sweets. We visit relatives and friends with sweets and snacks. They also visit us with sweets and snacks. We seek their blessings on the festival day. Gulab jamun, Laddoos, Halwas and Kaju cakes were my favorites.
My grandmother tells me that the victory of Good over Evil is the reason for this celebration. She also says that the festival is to mark the return of Rama to Ayodhya after his defeat of Ravana.
Lots of people also start new ventures on this day after performing Lakshmi Puja. This is marked by lighting of lamps, candles and diyas by the women folk in the family. The light and colour add to the celebrations.
In all, I can say that Deepavali is the brightest festival to be celebrated in India. The delicious food associated with the feast makes us feel that this festival must come more often in a year.
Posted in: WishesDeepavali - The Brightest Festival
Deepavali - The Brightest Festival
Diwali, popularly called Deepavali in some parts of India, is a festival which we all long for every year. The preparations for Deepavali start long before the festival date.
First, the excitement for us would be the new dresses that are bought to be worn for Deepavali. Since Deepavali is a festival for more than 2 days, we have 2 or 3 new dresses. Apart from this all elders visiting us buy us sweets and dresses also. Jeans, T shirts, Trousers and shirts were all bought for me by my parents.
The other major excitement for Deepavali is the bursting of crackers and fireworks. This year we burst lot of crackers. Earlier I used to be afraid of crackers. Now I have got over the fear of bursting crackers. My parents tell me that I have to be very careful while bursting. I followed their advice and there was no fire accident also. Sparklers, Rockets, Ground Chakkars and Flower pots were our favorites besides the Thousand thousand sparks bomb.
The third rejoicing aspect of Deepavali is the eating of sweets. We visit relatives and friends with sweets and snacks. They also visit us with sweets and snacks. We seek their blessings on the festival day. Gulab jamun, Laddoos, Halwas and Kaju cakes were my favorites.
My grandmother tells me that the victory of Good over Evil is the reason for this celebration. She also says that the festival is to mark the return of Rama to Ayodhya after his defeat of Ravana.
Lots of people also start new ventures on this day after performing Lakshmi Puja. This is marked by lighting of lamps, candles and diyas by the women folk in the family. The light and colour add to the celebrations.
In all, I can say that Deepavali is the brightest festival to be celebrated in India. The delicious food associated with the feast makes us feel that this festival must come more often in a year.
Diwali, popularly called Deepavali in some parts of India, is a festival which we all long for every year. The preparations for Deepavali start long before the festival date.
First, the excitement for us would be the new dresses that are bought to be worn for Deepavali. Since Deepavali is a festival for more than 2 days, we have 2 or 3 new dresses. Apart from this all elders visiting us buy us sweets and dresses also. Jeans, T shirts, Trousers and shirts were all bought for me by my parents.
The other major excitement for Deepavali is the bursting of crackers and fireworks. This year we burst lot of crackers. Earlier I used to be afraid of crackers. Now I have got over the fear of bursting crackers. My parents tell me that I have to be very careful while bursting. I followed their advice and there was no fire accident also. Sparklers, Rockets, Ground Chakkars and Flower pots were our favorites besides the Thousand thousand sparks bomb.
The third rejoicing aspect of Deepavali is the eating of sweets. We visit relatives and friends with sweets and snacks. They also visit us with sweets and snacks. We seek their blessings on the festival day. Gulab jamun, Laddoos, Halwas and Kaju cakes were my favorites.
My grandmother tells me that the victory of Good over Evil is the reason for this celebration. She also says that the festival is to mark the return of Rama to Ayodhya after his defeat of Ravana.
Lots of people also start new ventures on this day after performing Lakshmi Puja. This is marked by lighting of lamps, candles and diyas by the women folk in the family. The light and colour add to the celebrations.
In all, I can say that Deepavali is the brightest festival to be celebrated in India. The delicious food associated with the feast makes us feel that this festival must come more often in a year.
Posted in: WishesWednesday, October 13, 2010
Enjoy eco-friendly Durga Puja this year
Every year, thousands of tonnes of offerings (including idols) of Durga Puja are immersed in the Hooghly river, which drastically increases pollution, endangering marine and human life.
Toxic paints (of idols), non-biodegradable wastes like plastic flowers and solid wastes like idol frames are thrown into the water. So far, the pollution- control authorities have been finding it difficult to check the pollution level of the river.
Toxic paints (of idols), non-biodegradable wastes like plastic flowers and solid wastes like idol frames are thrown into the water. So far, the pollution- control authorities have been finding it difficult to check the pollution level of the river.
To check the toxic waste level, idol makers of Kumartuli, the nerve centre of clayidol makers in Kolkata, this year, are using a unique eco-friendly technique. They are using a special paint free from lead, mercury and chromium to embellish the idols. One of the leading paint companies has specially formulated these ecofriendly paints. Efforts are also on to convince the puja organisers not to dump the non- biodegradable waste in the river.
Similarly, some of the puja pandals are quickly replacing their conventional incandescent bulbs with the newage, environment- friendly light emitting diode (LED) lamps to produce dazzling illumination.
The famous Singhi Park puja Committee will showcase its theme of the national flowers of India, Ukraine and England through scintillating LED lighting. They also created a huge Gorilla with lights.
Goddess Durga is arriving on a palanquin this year. As Bengal is gearing up for the festivities of Durga Puja, the people are anxious. What is going to happen? The arrival of the Goddess of Shakti on a palanquin signifies an outbreak of epidemic.
The people of Bengal are already dejected with the unstable political theatre as the ruling Left Front and the opposition Trinamool Congress are at loggerheads, and are making life wretched for everyone. And now, if there is an epidemic, the euphoria of Puja festivities will be gone. Durga Puja is the biggest festival in Bengal, and is also said to be the largest celebrated religious festivals in the world.
The people of Bengal are already dejected with the unstable political theatre as the ruling Left Front and the opposition Trinamool Congress are at loggerheads, and are making life wretched for everyone. And now, if there is an epidemic, the euphoria of Puja festivities will be gone. Durga Puja is the biggest festival in Bengal, and is also said to be the largest celebrated religious festivals in the world.
Durga Puja this year is already lacklustre in rural areas in central and southern parts of Bengal.
The state, which is the country's largest rice producer, has already been badly hit by a drought. The economy in the rural areas has collapsed, prices of essential commodities have sky-rocketed, and several poor farmers have committed suicide.
The poor farmers are unable to buy new anything for their family members for Durga Puja this year. The state government had to declare 11 districts as drought-hit due to deficit rainfall.
More than 1.1 million hectares of paddy crops have been affected out of 4.4 million hectares of Kharif season because of the drought. The loss was estimated to be above Rs 5,000 crore. The far- western district of Purulia was recorded to be the worst-hit in the drought.
Caught in the ghastly situation, rural Bengal will not be able to endure any more calamities.
Some of the villages in South 24- Parganas district, which were worst- hit by Aila (the killer cyclone) last year, are yet to recover their losses, as the implementation of government's relief and rehabilitation package was a total failure.
Even in Kolkata, the situation is not hunky- dory. People complained that the government did not do anything to improve the civic amenities during the run up to Durga Puja. There is little hope that the city's arterial and most frequently used roads will be repaired within the next one week.
While the Kolkata Municipal Corporation ( KMC) has taken up repair on some of the major thoroughfares in the inner city, conditions of the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass and the Diamond Harbour Road are in an awful state. Bureaucratic red tapeism, and political feuds between the state Public Works Department (PWD) and KMC over jurisdiction have delayed the repair works.
Price- rise has also affected the budget of most of the Puja organisers. Even prices of Durga idols have sky- rocketed as sharp rise in the costs of the inputs have added to the woes of the idol makers. Prices of idols have gone up by 10 to 15 percent in Kolkata and the other towns.
Cost of bamboo has almost doubled from Rs 50 to 55 a year ago to Rs 100 to Rs 110 per piece this year. The price of hay (used to stuff the idols), has shot also up from Rs 100 per bundle to Rs 180.
The drought resulted in poor harvest, which in turn, doubled the price of hay in the markets.
Moreover, paint prices have gone up by 20 percent.
Moreover, Maoist-insurgency has crippled life in the rural areas of Bengal's Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore districts. The festive spirit of Durga Puja in the insurgencyravaged districts is at an alltime low as people are scared about Maoist attacks.
The only silver- lining for the woes in Bengal is that Goddess Durga, this year would depart on an elephant. The Goddess's departure on an elephant signifies good harvest. After all, Goddess Durga is supremely radiant, and can redeem situations of utmost distress. Will she bless everyone this year?
As the Durga Puja fever begins to soar in Kolkata, unscheduled onset of latemonsoon has pushed the Puja schedule out of gear.
In the last few weeks it seemed that the monsoon had retreated. But Monday onwards Puja shopping turned out to be a damp-squib as the skies opened up with a heavy spells of rain.
In the last few weeks it seemed that the monsoon had retreated. But Monday onwards Puja shopping turned out to be a damp-squib as the skies opened up with a heavy spells of rain.
Though the monsoon was on the retreat, the Met officials claim that low pressure could develop to bring in heavy showers in the next one week. Location- specific showers due to development of thunder clouds have also been predicted.
This does not bode well for the Puja. With Puja barely sevendays away, the Met office is unsure of how the weather would behave during peak celebration days. It will probably require Kolkatans to pray hard to the rain god to leave the city dry at least during the festival.
Posted in: WishesEnjoy eco-friendly Durga Puja this year
Every year, thousands of tonnes of offerings (including idols) of Durga Puja are immersed in the Hooghly river, which drastically increases pollution, endangering marine and human life.
Toxic paints (of idols), non-biodegradable wastes like plastic flowers and solid wastes like idol frames are thrown into the water. So far, the pollution- control authorities have been finding it difficult to check the pollution level of the river.
Toxic paints (of idols), non-biodegradable wastes like plastic flowers and solid wastes like idol frames are thrown into the water. So far, the pollution- control authorities have been finding it difficult to check the pollution level of the river.
To check the toxic waste level, idol makers of Kumartuli, the nerve centre of clayidol makers in Kolkata, this year, are using a unique eco-friendly technique. They are using a special paint free from lead, mercury and chromium to embellish the idols. One of the leading paint companies has specially formulated these ecofriendly paints. Efforts are also on to convince the puja organisers not to dump the non- biodegradable waste in the river.
Similarly, some of the puja pandals are quickly replacing their conventional incandescent bulbs with the newage, environment- friendly light emitting diode (LED) lamps to produce dazzling illumination.
The famous Singhi Park puja Committee will showcase its theme of the national flowers of India, Ukraine and England through scintillating LED lighting. They also created a huge Gorilla with lights.
Goddess Durga is arriving on a palanquin this year. As Bengal is gearing up for the festivities of Durga Puja, the people are anxious. What is going to happen? The arrival of the Goddess of Shakti on a palanquin signifies an outbreak of epidemic.
The people of Bengal are already dejected with the unstable political theatre as the ruling Left Front and the opposition Trinamool Congress are at loggerheads, and are making life wretched for everyone. And now, if there is an epidemic, the euphoria of Puja festivities will be gone. Durga Puja is the biggest festival in Bengal, and is also said to be the largest celebrated religious festivals in the world.
The people of Bengal are already dejected with the unstable political theatre as the ruling Left Front and the opposition Trinamool Congress are at loggerheads, and are making life wretched for everyone. And now, if there is an epidemic, the euphoria of Puja festivities will be gone. Durga Puja is the biggest festival in Bengal, and is also said to be the largest celebrated religious festivals in the world.
Durga Puja this year is already lacklustre in rural areas in central and southern parts of Bengal.
The state, which is the country's largest rice producer, has already been badly hit by a drought. The economy in the rural areas has collapsed, prices of essential commodities have sky-rocketed, and several poor farmers have committed suicide.
The poor farmers are unable to buy new anything for their family members for Durga Puja this year. The state government had to declare 11 districts as drought-hit due to deficit rainfall.
More than 1.1 million hectares of paddy crops have been affected out of 4.4 million hectares of Kharif season because of the drought. The loss was estimated to be above Rs 5,000 crore. The far- western district of Purulia was recorded to be the worst-hit in the drought.
Caught in the ghastly situation, rural Bengal will not be able to endure any more calamities.
Some of the villages in South 24- Parganas district, which were worst- hit by Aila (the killer cyclone) last year, are yet to recover their losses, as the implementation of government's relief and rehabilitation package was a total failure.
Even in Kolkata, the situation is not hunky- dory. People complained that the government did not do anything to improve the civic amenities during the run up to Durga Puja. There is little hope that the city's arterial and most frequently used roads will be repaired within the next one week.
While the Kolkata Municipal Corporation ( KMC) has taken up repair on some of the major thoroughfares in the inner city, conditions of the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass and the Diamond Harbour Road are in an awful state. Bureaucratic red tapeism, and political feuds between the state Public Works Department (PWD) and KMC over jurisdiction have delayed the repair works.
Price- rise has also affected the budget of most of the Puja organisers. Even prices of Durga idols have sky- rocketed as sharp rise in the costs of the inputs have added to the woes of the idol makers. Prices of idols have gone up by 10 to 15 percent in Kolkata and the other towns.
Cost of bamboo has almost doubled from Rs 50 to 55 a year ago to Rs 100 to Rs 110 per piece this year. The price of hay (used to stuff the idols), has shot also up from Rs 100 per bundle to Rs 180.
The drought resulted in poor harvest, which in turn, doubled the price of hay in the markets.
Moreover, paint prices have gone up by 20 percent.
Moreover, Maoist-insurgency has crippled life in the rural areas of Bengal's Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore districts. The festive spirit of Durga Puja in the insurgencyravaged districts is at an alltime low as people are scared about Maoist attacks.
The only silver- lining for the woes in Bengal is that Goddess Durga, this year would depart on an elephant. The Goddess's departure on an elephant signifies good harvest. After all, Goddess Durga is supremely radiant, and can redeem situations of utmost distress. Will she bless everyone this year?
As the Durga Puja fever begins to soar in Kolkata, unscheduled onset of latemonsoon has pushed the Puja schedule out of gear.
In the last few weeks it seemed that the monsoon had retreated. But Monday onwards Puja shopping turned out to be a damp-squib as the skies opened up with a heavy spells of rain.
In the last few weeks it seemed that the monsoon had retreated. But Monday onwards Puja shopping turned out to be a damp-squib as the skies opened up with a heavy spells of rain.
Though the monsoon was on the retreat, the Met officials claim that low pressure could develop to bring in heavy showers in the next one week. Location- specific showers due to development of thunder clouds have also been predicted.
This does not bode well for the Puja. With Puja barely sevendays away, the Met office is unsure of how the weather would behave during peak celebration days. It will probably require Kolkatans to pray hard to the rain god to leave the city dry at least during the festival.
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