Robert Louis Stevenson, Science, and the Fin de Siècle (Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture)

In this fascinating book, Reid examines Robert Louis Stevenson's writings in the context of late-Victorian evolutionist thought, arguing that an interest in 'primitive' life is at the heart of his work. She investigates a wide range of Stevenson's writing, including Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Treasure Island as well as previously unpublished material from the Stevenson archive at Yale. Reid's interpretation offers a new way of understanding the relationship between his Scottish and South Seas work. Her analysis of Stevenson's engagement with anthropological and psychological debate also illuminates the dynamic intersections between literature and science at the fin de siècle. In this fascinating book, Reid examines Robert Louis Stevenson's writings in the context of late-Victorian evolutionist thought, arguing that an interest in 'primitive' life is at the heart of his work. She investigates a wide range of Stevenson's writings, including Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Treasure Island as well as previously unpublished material from the Stevenson archive at Yale University. Reid offers a new way of understanding the relationship between his Scottish and Polynesian work, showing how an ambivalent engagement with psychological and anthropological debates unites his oeuvre. She also illuminates the creative intersections between late-Victorian literary and scientific discourses, and demonstrates that Stevenson dealt critically and dynamically with evolutionist thought. Unsettling evolutionist assumptions about the inevitable progress from 'savagery' to 'civilization', his works explore and celebrate the enduring heritage of 'primitive' instincts in modern life Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction: Stevenson, Evolution, and the ’Primitive’....Pages 1-12 Front Matter....Pages 13-14 Stevenson and the Art of Fiction....Pages 15-30 Romance Fiction: ‘stories round the savage camp-fire’....Pages 31-53 Front Matter....Pages 55-58 ‘There was less me and more not-me’: Stevenson and Nervous Morbidity....Pages 59-76 ‘Gothic gnomes’: Degenerate Fictions....Pages 77-105 Front Matter....Pages 107-110 ‘The Foreigner at Home’: Stevenson and Scotland....Pages 111-137 ‘[T]he clans disarmed, the chiefs deposed’: Stevenson in the South Seas....Pages 138-173 Conclusion....Pages 174-177 Back Matter....Pages 178-241

This fascinating book, now available in paperback, examines Robert Louis Stevenson's writings including key works such as including Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Treasure Island - in the context of late-Victorian evolutionist thought, arguing that an interest in 'primitive' life is at the heart of his work.

Examining Robert Louis Stevenson's writings in the context of late-Victorian evolutionist thought, arguing that an interest in 'primitive' life is at the heart of his work, this title offers a modern way of understanding the relationship between his Scottish and South Seas work "This book examines Robert Louis Stevenson's writings in the context of late-Victorian evolutionist ideas about savagery and civilization." -- Publisher description