Stevenson, Robert Louis - Most Important Works

What was Robert Louise Stevenson's early life like?

Robert Louise Stevenson was born in Edinburgh from a respectable family; since he was a child he started suffering of a respiratory illness, so he moved to the south of France. There he met Fanny Osbourne, who he later married even if she was ten years older than he was. They settled in Samoa, where he died and was buried with honors.
His most important works are:

- The Treasure Island, which is his most famous book and in which he creates an illusion of reality thanks to his great attention to details.

Analysis of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This novel can be connected with several literary aspects. For example, the title itself may have different means: “case” is a word connected with both investigation (and consequently with a crime story) and experiment in medicine; the name “Jekyll” is made of the word “Je” (that is the French pronoun for “I”) and the word “kyll” that seems the verb “to kill”. Moreover, the name “Hyde” recalls the verb “to hide”, and is strongly connected with the character itself, because it represents the “dark side” of the human being, the part that is not suitable for society and so must be hidden. This novel can be read as a crime story, a science fiction and an allegory of the dualism inside every man; the conflict between good and evil is a theme deriving from the author’s belief in predestination.

Most of Stevenson’s stories are told by a character speaking in the first person