Miik's review
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
It's amazaing to me that this tale came to be such an iconic horror archetype after finally reading it.
It suffers from the idea that any actual horror needs to be at least two or three steps removed from the actual story, i.e. only hearing of criminal behavior third hand from the narrator who heard it second hand from another acquaintance. And even then just talking about the occurances in an offhand and indirect way, giving away no details.
All in all it was an excellent read, and probably blew some socks off in its time, but overall the mythos that has sprung up around it is much more entertaining than the actual story.
It suffers from the idea that any actual horror needs to be at least two or three steps removed from the actual story, i.e. only hearing of criminal behavior third hand from the narrator who heard it second hand from another acquaintance. And even then just talking about the occurances in an offhand and indirect way, giving away no details.
All in all it was an excellent read, and probably blew some socks off in its time, but overall the mythos that has sprung up around it is much more entertaining than the actual story.
Based on my memory of the text, I think I agree with your assertions. I actually hope to re-read the book in the next ~2 weeks prior to seeing the play on 10-10. If I remember right, the "horror" was definitely removed from the story and the tale itself was more of a psychological exploration of human morality and mental conflict. Murder, assault, theft and other horrific crimes were generally on the periphery rather than part of the main focus, at least as per my memory, which you seem to have confirmed.
