What do you think?
Rate this book
The Complete Stories of Robert Louis Stevenson: Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Nineteen Other Tales
The complexity and range of Robert Louis Stevenson's short fiction reveals his genius perhaps more than any other medium. Here, leading Stevenson scholar Barry Menikoff arranges and introduces the complete selection of Stevenson's brilliant stories, including the famed masterpiece Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as well as "The Beach of Fales�" and Stevenson's previously uncollected stories. Arthur Conan Doyle has written that "[Stevenson's] short stories are certain to retain their position in English literature. His serious rivals are few indeed."
This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition includes explanatory notes, a Scots' Glossary, and a unique appendix dedicated to Stevenson's influence on the Oxford English Dictionary.
This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition includes explanatory notes, a Scots' Glossary, and a unique appendix dedicated to Stevenson's influence on the Oxford English Dictionary.
818 pages, Paperback
Published October 8, 2002
39 people are currently reading
612 people want to read
About the author
Robert Louis Stevenson
6,835 books6,943 followersRobert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer, and a leading representative of English literature. He was greatly admired by many authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling and Vladimir Nabokov.
Most modernist writers dismissed him, however, because he was popular and did not write within their narrow definition of literature. It is only recently that critics have begun to look beyond Stevenson's popularity and allow him a place in the Western canon.
Most modernist writers dismissed him, however, because he was popular and did not write within their narrow definition of literature. It is only recently that critics have begun to look beyond Stevenson's popularity and allow him a place in the Western canon.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 5, 2012
This collection includes Stevenson's better known works and the lesser ones. In my opinion, these lesser known short stories are just as good as Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and maybe even better just because they haven't been as widespread. His stories have a little bit of everything: Sci-Fi, detectives, princes, mysteries and they're not too long if you just want a short read.
April 23, 2008
I couldn't find the exact publication that I read, which was "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and other Short Stories". The 'other short stories' were The Suicide Club, Markheim, the Body Snatcher, and one other story I can't recall but which was written like Scottish brogue and awfully difficult to read. For the most part they're about the struggle between good and evil. I enjoyed them all, although the endings weren't terribly imaginative. I think the Suicide Club was my favorite.
June 29, 2019
It is useful to read the Introduction afterwards but not before; Menikoff gives away the endings to Stevenson's tales, which are tales of suspense as any adventure or romance must be. Stevenson's stories take place out in the world of nature, and within the cities and amongst the relationships between people, and inside the psyches, the souls, of the character, although any one story may take place mostly in one realm. The decisions that prompt action are the soul of drama (think of how the musical Les Miz deleted 90% of Victor Hugo's book, leaving only the drama of human moral action). Stevenson is concerned with life, and therefore with death; he sees that it is battlefield of good and evil; and he is one of the few I can think of who describe the journeys of those who have chosen, from what seems to them the most noble reasons, what seems to them the path of the moral high ground.
After I read the book's introduction by Barry Menikoff, which compared Stevenson with Tolstoy, I searched for references to Stevenson in The Essential G. K. Chesterton Collection, which contrasted him favorably with Kipling. I learned that Stevenson was a great reader, strongly influenced by Hawthorne and Whitman, and by the French writers. (I had to stop in the midst of one of his stories located in France and read Monsieur Lecoq.) Stevenson was a craftsman as concerned with the telling of the story as with the story he was telling, and a creator who defined the short story as a genre in both theory and in practice (Menikoff, p. xiv).
Stevenson had an extraordinary vocabulary and was concerned that his readers understand his stories. The result is a rich reading experience that welcomes one in.
I have been watching some movie serials from the 1940's, and am struck by how they too appeal through vigorous action and striking atmosphere, which combine the common human drama with otherness (Westerns in the 1940's serials; Scotland and Hawai'i and France feature in Stevenson).
Thrilling adventure, indeed!
After I read the book's introduction by Barry Menikoff, which compared Stevenson with Tolstoy, I searched for references to Stevenson in The Essential G. K. Chesterton Collection, which contrasted him favorably with Kipling. I learned that Stevenson was a great reader, strongly influenced by Hawthorne and Whitman, and by the French writers. (I had to stop in the midst of one of his stories located in France and read Monsieur Lecoq.) Stevenson was a craftsman as concerned with the telling of the story as with the story he was telling, and a creator who defined the short story as a genre in both theory and in practice (Menikoff, p. xiv).
Stevenson had an extraordinary vocabulary and was concerned that his readers understand his stories. The result is a rich reading experience that welcomes one in.
I have been watching some movie serials from the 1940's, and am struck by how they too appeal through vigorous action and striking atmosphere, which combine the common human drama with otherness (Westerns in the 1940's serials; Scotland and Hawai'i and France feature in Stevenson).
Thrilling adventure, indeed!
August 11, 2022
read "Markheim", "Thrawn Janet", "Olalla", "The Bottle Imp", "The Body-Snatcher", and "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"
Markheim has been described as a miniature Crime and Punishment, but it's christmas setting and atmosphere made it interesting.
Thrawn Janet was terrifying with its title character but the scots made it impossible to enjoy.
Olalla reminded me of Resident Evil 4. Spanish old mansions and brooding atmosphere.
The Bottle Imp was interesting and i enjoyed the happy ending for the wishers but not my favorite.
The Body Snatcher was great: anatomy labs testing on murdered bodies is easily one of the best short horror story concepts in this book and the metamorphosis of guilt at the end was haunting.
Jekyll and Hyde brought me to this book and the story was fascinating. I found the old friends relationship the most interesting as they shifted throughout, specifically after the cane-stricken murder. The ending felt over-explained but perhaps it was needed.
Markheim has been described as a miniature Crime and Punishment, but it's christmas setting and atmosphere made it interesting.
Thrawn Janet was terrifying with its title character but the scots made it impossible to enjoy.
Olalla reminded me of Resident Evil 4. Spanish old mansions and brooding atmosphere.
The Bottle Imp was interesting and i enjoyed the happy ending for the wishers but not my favorite.
The Body Snatcher was great: anatomy labs testing on murdered bodies is easily one of the best short horror story concepts in this book and the metamorphosis of guilt at the end was haunting.
Jekyll and Hyde brought me to this book and the story was fascinating. I found the old friends relationship the most interesting as they shifted throughout, specifically after the cane-stricken murder. The ending felt over-explained but perhaps it was needed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 27, 2019
Gems. Such a wonderful writer - very underappreciated - I was sorry when I finished that there weren't more. Tarnished by one story infused with the racism of the imperialist era, much like Conrad, this one set in Samoa where the author lived the last years of his life; but the central character, the villain, is a white man, who manipulates the native people for his own profit. Contradictions.
September 24, 2021
Superb collection of chilling and bizarre tales that set out to challenge the reader as well as entertain. it is a measure of the Lighthouse Stevenson genius that it never becomes didactic but remains always humane, universal and intimate. Some terrific stories in this collection, and some very famous genre-defining ones, but the surprising little-known stories are a total delight
January 31, 2024
An absolutely essential collection that shows Stevenson, who's esteem as a short story writer can not be questioned but the breath of his work from realism, supernatural, moral fable, and detective to name just a few. Show that regardless of the plot or setting and there are many in Stevensons stories he mastered them all, like few have done before or since.
Currently reading
August 13, 2019The Pavillion on the Links
Still part of the New Arabian Nights, this is one of those "How I met my wife" adventure stories, more interesting during the mysterious first part than the beleagured on all sides second part. Fun enough, very Stevenson.
Still part of the New Arabian Nights, this is one of those "How I met my wife" adventure stories, more interesting during the mysterious first part than the beleagured on all sides second part. Fun enough, very Stevenson.
April 7, 2024
I feel like this is a good book, but I just couldn't comprehend it properly. It uses a lot of words I don't understand and I didn't understand it. If there is a simplified version I would love to read it!
March 20, 2019
Enjoyed the short stories. I read this for a class and it was a wonderful work of literature.
Currently reading
October 21, 2024The Waif Woman is also printed in the Big Book of the Masters of Horror
Will O' The Mill is also printed in the Big Book of the Masters of Horror
Will O' The Mill is also printed in the Big Book of the Masters of Horror
October 24, 2021
From this volume, I've read the following stories from this Modern Library edition (I list them in chronological order of reading):
1.Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde (1886): see my review In Spanish) here
2."The Body Snatcher" (1884): a perfect story in all but its absurd shoddy final;
3."Markheim" (1885): from a narrative perspective, this, along with Olalla, is one of the best constructed of all Stevenson's stories I've read. Stevenson's prose here is beautiful and he effectively plays with the narrative time to create suspense, which then resolves with a sudden, masterly and unexpected conclusion. Some have rightly identified the influence of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment in this narrative (five stars). I also find echoes of Guy de Maupassant's stories here;
4."The Suicide Club" (1878): I was rather thrilled with the tree charming and beautifully told stories included in this collection. All are connected to form a single narrative which has Prince Florizel of Bohemia and his sidekick Colonel Geraldine as main characters. "The Suicide Club" is part of a more ample narrative cycle which were to be published later, in 1882, under the title of New Arabian Nights. Writers such as Chesterton and Borges highly praised these works as being among the best of Stevenson's narrative.
5."The Bottle Imp" (1891): beautifully written, but the rather dull, repetitive and contrived plot didn't really seduce me.
6."Olalla" (1885): I read this story between the evening of the 23rd October 2021 and the morning of the 24th. Of all Stevenson's stories this is the one that has struck me more deeply. Perfectly narrated, in fact beautifully narrated, it holds to the gothic novel tradition of placing the action in a castle/manor house/residencia in a far away country, in this case Spain. Stevenson gives us not only exquisite English prose, but some beautiful passages of deep meaning around the idea that our souls and destiny are uncannily linked to those of our ancestors in a "physical way". I give 5 stars to this most extraordinary tale, probably the best of all written by Stevenson.
1.Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde (1886): see my review In Spanish) here
2."The Body Snatcher" (1884): a perfect story in all but its absurd shoddy final;
3."Markheim" (1885): from a narrative perspective, this, along with Olalla, is one of the best constructed of all Stevenson's stories I've read. Stevenson's prose here is beautiful and he effectively plays with the narrative time to create suspense, which then resolves with a sudden, masterly and unexpected conclusion. Some have rightly identified the influence of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment in this narrative (five stars). I also find echoes of Guy de Maupassant's stories here;
4."The Suicide Club" (1878): I was rather thrilled with the tree charming and beautifully told stories included in this collection. All are connected to form a single narrative which has Prince Florizel of Bohemia and his sidekick Colonel Geraldine as main characters. "The Suicide Club" is part of a more ample narrative cycle which were to be published later, in 1882, under the title of New Arabian Nights. Writers such as Chesterton and Borges highly praised these works as being among the best of Stevenson's narrative.
5."The Bottle Imp" (1891): beautifully written, but the rather dull, repetitive and contrived plot didn't really seduce me.
6."Olalla" (1885): I read this story between the evening of the 23rd October 2021 and the morning of the 24th. Of all Stevenson's stories this is the one that has struck me more deeply. Perfectly narrated, in fact beautifully narrated, it holds to the gothic novel tradition of placing the action in a castle/manor house/residencia in a far away country, in this case Spain. Stevenson gives us not only exquisite English prose, but some beautiful passages of deep meaning around the idea that our souls and destiny are uncannily linked to those of our ancestors in a "physical way". I give 5 stars to this most extraordinary tale, probably the best of all written by Stevenson.
November 22, 2010
This book really make me dizzy..I don't really understand the story until I read it over and over again..The book shows the good and bad side of a human can be..I really drown into the story when I read it as I try to imagine it..The cruel Mr. Hyde can be a nice guy,, Dr. Jekyll..But I hate the end of the story when they both died..I just one Dr. Jekyll still alive..
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 22, 2010
This is a writer I admire enormously. His stories are full of surprises. He can be intellectually quite challenging, but what an imagination! I love the way he plays with the form of the short story. He is not self-indulgent with it. He always respects the reader, which means he never disappoints.
January 16, 2008
Delicious! I like this a lot.
June 26, 2011
I read this during my Gothic Blitz. Very good. As usual, much better than movies, or the summary of the plot as shared verbally.
August 17, 2011
Anything this man wrote is worth reading even if the subject is awful. Amazing writer!!
December 30, 2022
Read:
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Dec 22. - 3/5
The Body Snatchers. April 22. - 3/5
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Dec 22. - 3/5
The Body Snatchers. April 22. - 3/5
August 7, 2009
Its a nice mystery book!!!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews