The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 03
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019
Rating 4.0- Word count
- 582K words
- Chapters
- 59
Tags
English Originals Foreign Literature Social ObservationFate and FortuneLiterary GiantsComplex HumanityPsychological InsightVictorian EraSummary
Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 03 by StevensonAuthor: Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 21, 2009Editor's review
This volume is the third of the Swanston Edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's works, a public-domain English electronic text provided by Project Gutenberg. Stevenson is known for Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and his short stories, essays and travel writing likewise show a distinctive personal style marked by restrained narrative, atmospheric construction and moral ambiguity. As one volume of a multi-volume collection, its value lies first in its documentary nature: readers can observe Stevenson's writing across different genres and the linguistic texture of late nineteenth-century English prose and fiction. In terms of reading situation, it is better suited to selective and comparative reading than to being read straight through as a single work. Readers are advised to consult the volume's table of contents first to identify the included pieces, then read according to interest; for research, it may be compared with other editions or biographical materials. It should be noted that public-domain electronic texts usually lack modern editorial annotation, and the background of some pieces must be looked up by readers themselves, making the reading threshold higher than that of an ordinary standalone volume.Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers who have read Stevenson's major works and wish to expand systematically into his collected works
- Students and teachers studying nineteenth-century English literature and Stevenson's writing style
- Readers who enjoy old-style English prose, essays and short narratives and are willing to look up background
- Readers who need public-domain English texts for selective reading or classroom material preparation
Not a good fit for
- Readers who only want Treasure Island or Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and do not wish to engage with other genres
- Beginning readers who need detailed annotation, introductions and modernized typesetting
- Readers unfamiliar with the structure of multi-volume collections who expect a volume to be self-contained
Reading tips
- First consult the volume's table of contents, mark familiar and unfamiliar pieces, and read by interest rather than straight through.
- Record the genre and theme of each piece, and review after completing a stage to form an overall grasp of the volume.
- Make brief notes on historical background or allusions as they arise, and verify them together afterward to avoid frequent interruption.
- Read alongside other standalone works by Stevenson to observe the linguistic differences of the same author across genres
About the publisher
Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.
Contents
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
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- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
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- 43
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- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
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- 57
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- 59
FAQ
Can this volume be read as a standalone work?
It can be read selectively, but it is essentially one volume of a multi-volume collection, not a standalone work organized around a single theme. Readers are advised to consult the table of contents first to understand the included pieces and genres, then choose according to interest. For a complete narrative experience, it is better to begin with Stevenson's well-known standalone works.How does the Gutenberg edition differ from the paper Swanston Edition?
The Gutenberg edition provides a free public-domain electronic text that is easy to search and carry, but it usually lacks modern editorial annotation, introductions and textual notes. The paper Swanston Edition may include editorial conventions and publication information. When citing for research, one should note edition differences and verify against a reliable paper or scholarly edition.Can it be understood without annotation?
Most pieces can be understood from context, but nineteenth-century allusions, place names and publication background may need to be looked up. Readers are advised to prepare basic reference works or reliable online resources, mark obstacles as they arise, and resolve them together afterward. For research purposes, reading alongside biographical and literary-historical materials is more reliable.This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894 AuthorRobert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) was a nineteenth-century British writer known for adventure fiction and poetry. His representative work Treasure Island established a classic model for treasure-hunt adventure stories and has circulated widely in many translations; the library also holds the Spanish version La isla del tesoro and the German version Die Schatzinsel: Roman. Another representative work, A Child's Garden of Verses, writes from a child's perspective about play, imagination, and everyday feelings, with fresh language and natural rhythm, and is a common reader in English children's poetry. The library holds as many as 101 of his works, showing the variety of his subjects and forms. Public information is limited, so details of his life and education are not elaborated here; overall, his writing combines thrilling narrative with a lyrical tone, being strongly story-driven yet readable aloud, and has had a lasting influence on later adventure literature and children's literature.