An Old Song and Edifying Letters of the Rutherford Family

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Newly Discovered Long Story, and Old Song and a Previously Unpublished Short Story, Edifying Letters of the Rutherford Family

1 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1982

About the author

Robert 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.

Reviews

[Fabiola · Rating 4 out of 5]

- Una vecchia storia ("An Old Song)": 3+*/3 e ½*;
- Appendice_Lettere edificanti della famiglia Rutherford ("Edifying Letters of the Rutherford Family"): 4-* (perché incompiuto, ma a me sarebbe piaciuto tanto! La prima lettera da sola parla da sé).
Il mio libro in più contiene "L'incantatrice" ("The Enchantress"): 4 e ½*.

[Jim Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

How Stevenson scholars did not recognize this early novella (first appearing in London Magazine) as a work by Stevenson is a mystery. The plot involves an uncle and then his two nephews who live very different lives. It fits into Stevenson's later themes involving duality--our good vs. our evil natures, faith and agnosticism, and the struggle between duty vs. individualism. It is an early work, but contains some quite beautiful writing, even if the story needed further development to be completely successful.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novella that never appeared under Stevenson's name during his lifetime, "An Old Song" contains thematic material that would later be developed into Jekyll and Hyde. Interesting, readable, but ends too abruptly.