The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 09

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.2
Word count
606K words
Chapters
61

Tags

English Originals Classic Works Adventure JourneyFate and FortuneHuman NaturePsychological InsightHeartwarming NarrativePopular Narrative

Summary

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. 09 by StevensonAuthor: Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 4, 2009

Editor's review

This is Volume 9 of the Swanston Edition of Stevenson's collected works, one installment of a systematic compilation of his writings that allows readers to progress volume by volume. Stevenson is known for his narrative pacing, atmospheric control, and stylistic range, and as part of the collected works this volume suits readers who have already read his major novels and want a fuller view of his shorter fiction, essays, or miscellaneous writings. Its value lies in showing a nineteenth-century author moving among different forms and helping readers build an overall sense of his creative range, rather than offering a guide to any single work. When reading, first check the contents of this volume and proceed by grouping texts by genre; add brief notes on archaic usages and historical background as needed. Because this is a public-domain electronic edition of a collected-works volume, layout and annotation vary by edition, so use it alongside a reliable chronology of the works and avoid mistaking the compilation order for the order of composition.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. First check this volume's contents and a chronology of the works, then read by genre or period of composition.
  2. Write a brief summary of each piece, noting stylistic features and narrative point of view.
  3. Mark historical place names and archaic idioms first, then look them up together after finishing the piece.
  4. Read alongside Stevenson's major novels to observe differences between his long and short fiction techniques.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project 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. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61

FAQ

What specific works does this volume contain? The material only states that this is Volume 9 of the Swanston Edition and does not list the contents. For the specific contents, consult the book's table of contents, and check the electronic edition's contents page against a chronology of the works before reading.
Can I read this volume without having read Stevenson before? You can, but a collected-works volume is not necessarily the best starting point. If you have not yet read his major novels, start with one or two representative works to get a feel for his style, then return to the collected-works volumes for wider reading.
Is this a Chinese translation or the original English? The book comes from Project Gutenberg and is a public-domain electronic text in English, classified under English literature. It requires corresponding English reading ability; for older expressions, use a dictionary.
Does the electronic edition have annotations? Public-domain electronic collected-works volumes usually present the original text, and annotation varies in detail by edition, so do not expect scholarly-level critical editing. When background knowledge is needed, use a chronology of the works and reliable reference sources.

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 Author

Robert 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.