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Robert Louis Stevenson : A Biography
The most authoritative, comprehensive, perceptive biography of R. L. Stevenson to date, using for the first time his collected correspondence (unavailable to previous writers). The short life of Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94) was as adventurous as almost anything in his his travels, illness, struggles to become a writer, relationships with his volatile wife and step-family, friendships and quarrels have fascinated readers for over a century. In his time he was both engineer and aesthete, dutiful son and reckless lover, Scotsman and South Sea Islander, Covenanter and atheist. Stevenson's books, including Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Kidnapped, have achieved world fame; others - The Master of Ballantrae, A Child's Garden of Verses, Travels with a Donkey - remain all-time favourites. that some of his characters live in the consciousness even of those who have never read his Long John Silver, with his wooden leg and his parrot, is more real to most people than any historical pirate, while 'Jekyll and Hyde' has become a universally recognised term for a split personality. No biography has yet done justice to the complex, brilliant and troubled man who was responsible for so many remarkable creations. His interest in psychology, genetics, technology and feminism anticipated the concerns of the next century, while his experiments in narrative technique inspired post-modern innovators such as Borges and Nabokov. Stevenson's recently collected correspondence shows him to have been the least 'Victorian' of Victorian writers, a man of humour, resilience and strongly unconventional views. With access to this and much previously unpublished material, Claire Harman, the acclaimed biographer of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Fanny Burney, has written the most authoritative, comprehensive and perceptive portrait of 'RLS' to date.
503 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
12 people are currently reading
260 people want to read
About the author
Claire Harman
17 books160 followersClaire Harman began her career in publishing, at Carcanet Press and the poetry magazine PN Review, where she was co-ordinating editor.
Her first book, a biography of the writer Sylvia Townsend Warner, was published in 1989 and won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for ‘a writer of growing stature’ under the age of 35. She has since published biographies of Fanny Burney and Robert Louis Stevenson and edited works by Stevenson and Warner. She writes short stories for radio and publication and was runner-up for the V.S.Pritchett prize for short fiction in 2008. Her latest book is a mixture of biography and criticism, Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World.
Claire has taught English at the Universities of Manchester and Oxford and creative writing at Columbia University in New York City. She has appeared on radio and television and writes regularly for the literary press on both sides of the Atlantic, reviewing books, films, plays and exhibitions.
She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2006.
Her first book, a biography of the writer Sylvia Townsend Warner, was published in 1989 and won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for ‘a writer of growing stature’ under the age of 35. She has since published biographies of Fanny Burney and Robert Louis Stevenson and edited works by Stevenson and Warner. She writes short stories for radio and publication and was runner-up for the V.S.Pritchett prize for short fiction in 2008. Her latest book is a mixture of biography and criticism, Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World.
Claire has taught English at the Universities of Manchester and Oxford and creative writing at Columbia University in New York City. She has appeared on radio and television and writes regularly for the literary press on both sides of the Atlantic, reviewing books, films, plays and exhibitions.
She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2006.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 4, 2015
Claire Harman does a fine job in marshalling the sources and literature. She shows how Stevenson influenced Borges, Nabakov, Henry James and Conrad ( noting that Stevenson 'The Ebb - Tide' contains the line " the horror! the horror -the sea!" which was subsequently more than echoed by Conrad in 'The Heart of Darkness'.)
She maintains a largely professional distance from her subject and related characters. If anything she manifests impatience , irritation and disdain for many of them, especially Stevenson's wife, which could have been tempered with a more sympathetic insight. I tend to the view taken by Prof Jane Stevenson that "He needed a woman who was at once nurse, mother-figure and adventuress, and he found one."
(http://www.theguardian.com/books/2005...)
However I think Jane Stevenson is rather unfair when asserting that Claire Harman sought to claim RLS for English literature. In fact Harman pinpoints why he was neglected " When the new discipline of 'English Literature' emerged in the new century , Stevenson was nowhere to be seen. He had been popular, he had been a romancer, a writer for boys , a Scot."
She maintains a largely professional distance from her subject and related characters. If anything she manifests impatience , irritation and disdain for many of them, especially Stevenson's wife, which could have been tempered with a more sympathetic insight. I tend to the view taken by Prof Jane Stevenson that "He needed a woman who was at once nurse, mother-figure and adventuress, and he found one."
(http://www.theguardian.com/books/2005...)
However I think Jane Stevenson is rather unfair when asserting that Claire Harman sought to claim RLS for English literature. In fact Harman pinpoints why he was neglected " When the new discipline of 'English Literature' emerged in the new century , Stevenson was nowhere to be seen. He had been popular, he had been a romancer, a writer for boys , a Scot."
October 14, 2022
An extremely well-written biography that details the wonderful and tragic aspects of Robert Lewis Stevenson's life. Claire Harman paints a balanced picture, showing the positive as well as the negative aspects of his character, the personalities who surrounded him, his extended family, and the history which set him in time and place. With masterful control of the huge amount of material to sift through, the book never bogs down or gets confusing. The pictures help to illuminate the reality of his life and, in some ways, the tragedy of his double existence, which never truly reconciled his body with his soul. An insightful look into the writer as well as the man.
March 12, 2014
After reading a fiction book on RLS and Fanny, I had to read a biography. These two people led amazing lives, and the fact that they became a couple is nothing less than fantastic. I especially enjoyed the tie-in of what RLS was writing at the time the events being described were occurring. I had to re-read "Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde" and "Treasure Island." He would write until his hand cramped, and then he had to use an amanuensis. He attributed many ideas to his dreams and the "Brownies" who made them come to him. An amazing man.
April 27, 2014
i liked it! I skimmed through some of it since I had already read, "Under the Wide and Starry Sky", and "Fanny Osbourne, her biography"....so I knew alot about the Stevensons. The more I learned about RLS, the more fascinating his life became to me - and inspired me to read more.
March 20, 2015
I persisted in reading this book but to me there were too many excerpts from his writings thrown in among the interesting parts of his life. Also had trouble understanding some of the words the author used (perhaps Scottish?). Anyway I finished it but it was a chore.
February 21, 2022
I knew so little about Stevenson (1850-94) that I didn’t know his middle name was pronounced “Lewis” rather than “Loo-ee,” though I had a vague idea he’d been to the South Pacific.
Stevenson’s parents were devout, upper-middle-class Scots, determined that their son should be an engineer like Old Pa or, failing that, a lawyer. Instead, they got a scrawny aesthete, an indolent atheist, a nervous long-haired Bohemian fop who triggered the “gay-dar” of his artsy friends. He combined some actual bad health with a canny hypochondria that kept him on the parental payroll for years.
He enjoyed hanging out with friends, playing at writing, and altering his consciousness chemically. He was noted for his intelligent conversation and for being an outstanding oddball. He was acquainted with most of the major authors of his day.
Treasure Island and A Child’s Garden of Verses brought him an audience, then the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde brought him widespread fame and a semi-steady income at last.
Randomly, he was talked into leasing a yacht for a tour of the Pacific Islands by his tenuously sane wife. The ship’s captain took one look at Stevenson – who was, by RLS’s standards, a picture of health at the time – and ordered that everything needed for a burial at sea be loaded aboard.
Stevenson had no idea he would spend his final years on a plantation in Samoa, where he was known as “Tusi Tala,” “the teller of tales.” The behind-the-scenes colonialist plotting in supposedly independent Samoa in his last years (Stevenson saw “parallels with the Highland crises of the eighteenth century” p. 434) read like the plot of a Conrad novel.
“Requiem,” the poem on Stevenson’s tomb, “has been set to music and taught to generations of Samoan school children, holding a place in the island’s culture something like that of ‘Greensleeves’ in ours.” (p. 459)
Stevenson’s parents were devout, upper-middle-class Scots, determined that their son should be an engineer like Old Pa or, failing that, a lawyer. Instead, they got a scrawny aesthete, an indolent atheist, a nervous long-haired Bohemian fop who triggered the “gay-dar” of his artsy friends. He combined some actual bad health with a canny hypochondria that kept him on the parental payroll for years.
He enjoyed hanging out with friends, playing at writing, and altering his consciousness chemically. He was noted for his intelligent conversation and for being an outstanding oddball. He was acquainted with most of the major authors of his day.
Treasure Island and A Child’s Garden of Verses brought him an audience, then the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde brought him widespread fame and a semi-steady income at last.
Randomly, he was talked into leasing a yacht for a tour of the Pacific Islands by his tenuously sane wife. The ship’s captain took one look at Stevenson – who was, by RLS’s standards, a picture of health at the time – and ordered that everything needed for a burial at sea be loaded aboard.
Stevenson had no idea he would spend his final years on a plantation in Samoa, where he was known as “Tusi Tala,” “the teller of tales.” The behind-the-scenes colonialist plotting in supposedly independent Samoa in his last years (Stevenson saw “parallels with the Highland crises of the eighteenth century” p. 434) read like the plot of a Conrad novel.
“Requiem,” the poem on Stevenson’s tomb, “has been set to music and taught to generations of Samoan school children, holding a place in the island’s culture something like that of ‘Greensleeves’ in ours.” (p. 459)
March 16, 2020
Robert Louis Stevenson was one of my favorite childhood authors, and his life was as interesting as his books to me when I was a teenager. I read the book Voyage to Windward about his life long ago. My interest in Stevenson was rekindled as we are going on a trip to Scotland this summer, and I got this more recent biography out of the library. It did not disappoint-it was detailed in its depiction of Stevenson's life and family, his health issues, his romance with Fanny Stevenson and pursuit of her to California, his novels and the development of his writing career, and the intersection of his life with his work. I found the discussion of some of his work less than complete--such as of the writing of Treasure Island--but the treatment of his family, friendships, and life in Scotland is detailed and interesting. The book is a slog in some parts and bogs down with the extensive excerpts that take the place of narrative. Still this is the most recent and definitive biography of Stevenson and is valuable for that reason. I rated it a 3 because it was good not great--definitive but not so engaging that I could not stop reading. Still a good, solid book and an excellent biography of its subject.
September 28, 2021
Phew. This is a good biography, very thorough - but possibly a bit too detailed. I think I would have enjoyed a shorter book much more. The author clearly knows her subject and the footnotes are comprehensive.
I was left feeling very sad about R L Stevenson. Clearly he was plagued with many chronic illnesses which affected his life but it seems that life in damp Edinburgh was part of the problem plus very over-anxious parenting. In a different place, with different, less fussy parents, Stevenson would have been much more prolific in his output. He wrote a few very good books, masterpieces - Treasure Island & Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde probably being the most famous. But left behind so many half completed novels, articles, etc that I was left feeling sad that he could not accomplish more.
Part of the author's aim, I think was to reinstate RLS as being one of the great authors of his time. But I was left thinking that he probably has the reputation he deserves. ie: a few good books, and lots of not so good ones.
I was left feeling very sad about R L Stevenson. Clearly he was plagued with many chronic illnesses which affected his life but it seems that life in damp Edinburgh was part of the problem plus very over-anxious parenting. In a different place, with different, less fussy parents, Stevenson would have been much more prolific in his output. He wrote a few very good books, masterpieces - Treasure Island & Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde probably being the most famous. But left behind so many half completed novels, articles, etc that I was left feeling sad that he could not accomplish more.
Part of the author's aim, I think was to reinstate RLS as being one of the great authors of his time. But I was left thinking that he probably has the reputation he deserves. ie: a few good books, and lots of not so good ones.
September 9, 2025
I first read this biography on RLS in 2019 and remembered I was frustrated at it. Overall, it was a sound telling of RLS’s life, with some interesting aspects to his last years spent in the South Pacific.
I decided to re-read it again now and after 30 pages I was reminded why I was frustrated during the first reading. The author uses different names when referencing RLS, for example, within the space of one page she calls him ‘Lou’, ‘Lewis’ and ‘Stevenson’. Two of those she uses in the same sentence. She also uses RLS every now and then. Just settle on one name and be consistent! There’s already enough other Roberts and Stevensons in the story without getting people confused.
3.5 stars. Would have been 4.5 if it wasn’t for the above.
I decided to re-read it again now and after 30 pages I was reminded why I was frustrated during the first reading. The author uses different names when referencing RLS, for example, within the space of one page she calls him ‘Lou’, ‘Lewis’ and ‘Stevenson’. Two of those she uses in the same sentence. She also uses RLS every now and then. Just settle on one name and be consistent! There’s already enough other Roberts and Stevensons in the story without getting people confused.
3.5 stars. Would have been 4.5 if it wasn’t for the above.
January 21, 2018
This book is not for the faint-hearted. It is a tough read. The authors treatment is academic and the book is packed with information and many, many quotes. Once I got into the swing of it though, I was swept along. By the time I reached "... by 8pm he was dead ..." (sic) I felt almost bereaved. What a life. Quite the inspiration.
March 26, 2021
Excellent biography of a very interesting author. I have recently started reading some of his books and essays. His life was such a combination of genius and confusion. His mother and father certainly shaped him and supported him even as he took a different path. His love of friends and of women was new to me. All the research seemed to be well done.
September 12, 2024
A superb coverage of the life of RLS and his various relationships. I particularly enjoyed the passages relating to the development of his work, though I felt there could have been even more depth in that area. Still, a solid biography.
September 10, 2020
Very difficult to get through the first few chapters. Continuing to read. Later chapters get better. It will give me an introduction to people within his life and hopefully a better understanding of his writing and works.
For me, remains difficult to read. It’s like reading an English professor’s lecture. I’ve put it down again and will return it to the library unfinished.
For me, remains difficult to read. It’s like reading an English professor’s lecture. I’ve put it down again and will return it to the library unfinished.
June 24, 2023
Harman proves to be a solid and thorough biographer adding possible answers to open questions, carefully pointing out speculation and supporting evidence.
Not knowing anything about Stevenson, beyond his most famous books, I was more disappointed by the subject than the biographer. Stevenson’s life was that of a hypochondriac, self-delusioned aesthete. I can admire his determination, chasing down his lover over land and sea. His writing is surprisingly uneven; Harman provides plenty of fair examples,which explains why Stevenson is only famous for a handful of works. When he doesn’t write well, his prose is purple, and his plots (when he finishes them) are awkward,embarrassing.
There isn’t much meat on the bone here for background on his most interesting work, Jekyll and Hyde, but it’s sufficient. As with many famous authors there is strong indication that the woman in his life is essentially uncredited for her direct role in his success, though Stevenson himself is first to admit her contributions made vast improvements. In some cases, however, Fanny did more damage than good. Stevenson is a master of visuals and action — without a doubt this is his greatest strength.
Harman illuminates Stevenson’s admirable qualities: being emotionally sensitive, agreeable and loyal to a fault.
Not knowing anything about Stevenson, beyond his most famous books, I was more disappointed by the subject than the biographer. Stevenson’s life was that of a hypochondriac, self-delusioned aesthete. I can admire his determination, chasing down his lover over land and sea. His writing is surprisingly uneven; Harman provides plenty of fair examples,which explains why Stevenson is only famous for a handful of works. When he doesn’t write well, his prose is purple, and his plots (when he finishes them) are awkward,embarrassing.
There isn’t much meat on the bone here for background on his most interesting work, Jekyll and Hyde, but it’s sufficient. As with many famous authors there is strong indication that the woman in his life is essentially uncredited for her direct role in his success, though Stevenson himself is first to admit her contributions made vast improvements. In some cases, however, Fanny did more damage than good. Stevenson is a master of visuals and action — without a doubt this is his greatest strength.
Harman illuminates Stevenson’s admirable qualities: being emotionally sensitive, agreeable and loyal to a fault.
July 17, 2016
"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 long'd to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill."
The famous epigraph has recently been co-opted as the title of a "novelization" of his life. Read this bio instead! It's a wonderful story well told, and does justice to both "Louis" and his stalwart, earthy, amazing wife Fanny. Treasure Island, Jekyll & Hyde, Kidnapped - all from the pen of a sickly Scot whose love of life and indomitable good cheer carried him from smoggy Edinburgh to the south Pacific. Dead at 44, he packed even more love, adventure, romance and wandering into his life than into his novels. And his poetry - the old-fashioned kind with meter and rhyme, meant for speaking aloud - still tickles the fancy of anyone with a rhythmic bent.
A writer for the ages. A bio worthy of him. Accept no imitations.
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 long'd to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill."
The famous epigraph has recently been co-opted as the title of a "novelization" of his life. Read this bio instead! It's a wonderful story well told, and does justice to both "Louis" and his stalwart, earthy, amazing wife Fanny. Treasure Island, Jekyll & Hyde, Kidnapped - all from the pen of a sickly Scot whose love of life and indomitable good cheer carried him from smoggy Edinburgh to the south Pacific. Dead at 44, he packed even more love, adventure, romance and wandering into his life than into his novels. And his poetry - the old-fashioned kind with meter and rhyme, meant for speaking aloud - still tickles the fancy of anyone with a rhythmic bent.
A writer for the ages. A bio worthy of him. Accept no imitations.
February 21, 2013
One of the few biographies I've ever read which I knew nothing of the subject, and had only a minimal familiarity with their work [yeah, shame on me]. My impetus for reading was that RLS and my daughter share both a name and a bloodline. As a result, this read more like a novel than a biography. Excellent characters in RLS - the flighty, sickly son of wealth and privilege who showed little early promise to become a world-famous author; His really-kinda-crazy wife, Fanny; Various British literati; assorted Pacific island kings and castaways. A bizarre winding plot which travels from Scotland, throughout Europe, to the US, and finally, Samoa - mostly in an attempt to improve or avoid his constant physical infirmity. No great scandals. RLS comes off as a truly decent human being. Fanny descends further into nuttiness after his passing and - the single scandalous note - goes on to share possibly FOUR lovers with her daughter, Belle.
December 28, 2014
This is an exhaustive work. I give it 4 stars because it is an accomplishment for the writer, but for the reader it is a major commitment. She has sifted through a lot of info and put it in good order.
The quotes, passages and ideas Harman unearths from her research of his letters and the reports of others show RLS to be a modern thinker with keen powers of observation. He seems very unfazed by the Victorian mores of the times.
I was most interested in the Pacific Islands part. From the early life (beyond the health needs for which a warm climate can do wonders), you can understand RLS's fascination.
With such wide experience for the times in which he lived, his life to this time could have been a prelude to much more fascinating works. I wonder what he would have written had he lived beyond his 44 years.
The quotes, passages and ideas Harman unearths from her research of his letters and the reports of others show RLS to be a modern thinker with keen powers of observation. He seems very unfazed by the Victorian mores of the times.
I was most interested in the Pacific Islands part. From the early life (beyond the health needs for which a warm climate can do wonders), you can understand RLS's fascination.
With such wide experience for the times in which he lived, his life to this time could have been a prelude to much more fascinating works. I wonder what he would have written had he lived beyond his 44 years.
May 27, 2012
Anyone that has read any of Stevenson's books should read this to better understand the writer. This was a great book about his life, struggles, marriage and his illness. Life certainly not kind to him but he persevered and followed his heart's desire which was writing. I was very touched by his life story as I have read some of his books and never realized all that he went through. I love biographies so I enjoyed reading about this author's life.
May 16, 2012
Using the premise that R.L. Stevenson spent his life between a rich inner life that didn't always match up to the real world, Harman tells the story of this beloved author. Very influential in his time and now relegated to children's author status Stevenson is a Victorian worth finding out about.
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June 17, 2014Bio: R L Stevenson
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April 20, 2012Natalie gave this 5 stars. Thanks, Natalie! :-)
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews