Robert Louis Stevenson
(1850-1894)

"In each of us, two natures are at war - the good and the evil. All our lives the fight goes on between them, and one of them must conquer. But in our own hands lies the power to choose - what we most want to be, we ARE"

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1850.

"What schools had taken upon themselves to teach were mostly not the thing that he had taken upon himself to learn"

Truancy, however, was something Stevenson had learnt well, but despite his rebellious nature, teachers spoke very highiy of him.

"Without exception the most delightful boy I ever knew."

In 1879 he made his first visit to America with aspirations of becoming a successful writer. Born into an upper-class environment, he was quickly aware not everyone lived as he did.

"In his youth, Stevenson was unable to tolerate his 91respectable92 background and was tormented by feeling of guilt, which influenced his later horror stories."

He felt the need to disassociate himself from this company and dress and live like a pauper. Travelling made this easier as he got the opportunity to use his gypsy like nature to meet new people from all walks of life. He was especially drawn to the lower classes and "dregs of society," finding them much more interesting then the types of people he had grown up with. Many of these characters would inspire his writing. His formula for life was "55% Artist - 45% Adventurer" and each new experience he tried to channel through his writing.

On this particular adventure he would also meet Fanny Osbourne, a woman 11 years his senior, who he would fall in love with and later marry. She was to play a vital role in his life, his writing and his quest for health.

He spent many years battling various illnesses, which had a huge bearing on his life. At times, as he put it, he would have to sit back, twiddle his fingers and play patience.' His father wanted him to follow tradition and become an engineer, but instead he chose to study law. Due to his health he couldn't complete his course and was bed-ridden. Writing was a profession that his illness could not hinder; it was also a means of escape from the world in which he was confined.

Stevenson could never stay in one place for too long. He felt doing so was the cause of his sickness.

"That tells on my old gypsy nature; like a violin hung up, I lose what music there was in me."

His fascination with horror stemmed from an early age with the punishments his father set and the horrii~ing stories his childhood nurse used to tell him. These would influence his early horror stories, which he called 'Crawlers'. In these he would begin to explore the duality of man. He came close to dealing with this subject in a play he co-wrote with W.E. Henley called Deacon Brodie, about a man who was good by day and evil by night. Dissatisfied from the material he had produced so far, he sought to find the perfect story to express "that strong sense of a man's double being which must at times come in upon him and overwhelm the mind of every thinking creature"

It began one night in 1886. After a series of vivid nightmares Stevenson wrote almost solidly for 3 days. From this he produced the first draft of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. (The material supplied by the dream was a mixture of two scenes; Hyde undertaking a transformation in front of his pursuers, the other; the previous scene at the window.) This version was then destroyed after his wife had made criticisms. He did this as he did not want to be tempted to look back on the original. He then wrote for an additional 3 days, and from this the final version was born.

Unknown to Stevenson The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hydewould be the story that paved the way to a whole series of events that Stevenson could never have imagined. This novel would make him an established writer, and would be what he is most recognized and remembered for today (along with Treasure Island).

The story was a break-through in psychoanalytical theory, as it came before Freud, Jung and Adler's theories on man's inner struggles. In time, Jekyll and Hyde would also be seen as an illustration of modern schizophrenia.

In 1887 Stevenson made his last voyage to America after yet another near death experience, to which doctors had prescribed a 91change of climate92. Instead of being frustrated by the fact he would have to sail on a ship barely fit for cattle, he saw this as another adventure. He was at his happiest when he was in the great out-doors or travelling on a old 'tramp-ship' "where men still lived a man's life."

His arrival sparked a very different response to his first, eight years previously, when he was unknown. This time he was not travelling alone but with his wife, her son and his mother, and at the pier there were many eager fans to greet him. His dream of becoming a successful writer was no longer a dream.

He soon became very ill again, consumption was taking its toll and he realized he must move on again. This would be his final journey, and it would be to Samoa. Stevenson and his wife, Fanny, would go on a new adventure to search for a cure. In Samoa Stevenson didn't cease to make new friends. They referred to him as 'Tusitala' meaning "the teller of tales." No title more befitting, as that is what he did best.

Stevenson died of Tuberculosis in 1894, he was 44 years of age.

Stevenson had vast writing tastes and ability; at one end of the spectrum he wrote dramatic, chilling horror stories and at the other, children's poetry. He catered to every taste and through his writing showed the multi-layers to his own personality.

Early works, his "crawlers" include Thrawn Janet,, The Body Snatchers and Markeim. These are seen to possess early signs of his search into the duality of man.

Stevenson's other popular works include; Treasure Island, The Black Arrow, Kidnapped and his famous book of poems, A Child's Garden of Verses.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is over 110 years old yet its themes resonate through generation after generation. It's a timeless story that will continue to be told and re-told for many years to come.