Transcript Slide 1

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson
(1850-1894)
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson
Was a Scottish novelist,
poet, essayist and travel
writer.
Stevenson has been
admired by many
authors, who said of him
that he "seemed to pick
the right word up on the
point of his pen, like a
man playing spillikins“.
Childhood
Stevenson inherited poor
health.
RLS recalled this time of
sickness in the poem "The
Land of Counterpane“ and
dedicated the book to his
nurse.
His illnesses often kept him
away from school.
Throughout his childhood he
was writing stories. His
father paid for the printing of
Robert's first publication at
sixteen.
University
in 1867 he entered the
University of
Edinburgh
no enthusiasm for his
studies
devoted much energy
to avoiding lectures.
In April 1871, he
announced to his
father his decision to
leave the university.
Early writings and travels
In 1873, Stevenson fell ill,
He was sent in the South of
France.
On his return to Edinburgh, he
spent much of his time writing
book reviews and articles and
experimenting with short
stories.
One of his journeys in
Belgium and France with Sir
Walter Simpson was the basis
of his first real book, “An
Inland Voyage”.
Marriage
in 1876 he first met
Fanny Vandegrift
Osbourne
in 1878, Fanny returned
to San Francisco.
in August 1879, he
fallowed her ,
He took second class
passage on the steamship
Devonia
It broke his health, and he
was near death when he
arrived in Monterey.
In May 1880, Stevenson
married Fanny.
Best known works
“Treasure Island”, his first
widely popular book;
“Kidnapped”;
“Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde”,
The basic theme of true
identity have attracted such
writers as Mary Shelley
(Frankenstein), Hans
Christian Andersen ('The
Ugly Duckling'), Fyodor
Dostoyevsky (Crime and
Punishment), Bram Stoker
(Dracula, 1897), Franz Kafka
('Metamorphosis').
“A Child's Garden of Verses”
and “Underwoods”.
Last years
He died in 1894, probably of a
cerebral haemorrhage
Stevenson had always wanted his
'Requiem' inscribed on his tomb.
Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.
However, the piece is widely
misquoted, including the inscription
on his tomb, which closes:
Home is the sailor, home from the
sea, And the hunter home from the
hill.
Tresure Island
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