Public Seminar: Robert Louis Stevenson at 175
Why does the world continue to memorialise and study the life and works of a chronically ill bohemian author from Victorian Edinburgh, 130 years after his untimely death?
Robert Louis Stevenson, often referred to as RLS, is best known as the author of Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde (1886), Treasure Island (1883), and Kidnapped (1886). During the latter years of his short life, RLS was a highly regarded author who influenced Mark Twain, G.K. Chesterton and J.M. Barrie. Despite this, during much of the 20th century RLS was dismissed as merely a commercial author who wrote for children’s magazines.
Things have changed and today the name of Stevenson is spoken in the same sentence as Scott and Burns, while contemporary authors, including Ian Rankin and Michael Pedersen, cite RLS as an influence and even include the late RLS as a character in contemporary novels. Around the world, RLS is studied, chronicled in new biographies and commemorated in museums, monuments and national parks.
This seminar will discuss the ongoing journey of the presenter to discover why and how RLS is perceived and interpreted 175 years after his birth.
James (Jimm) Simon is a PhD candidate at UHI Institute for Northern Studies.
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