The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 14

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

Rating 4.0

Word count: 276K words
Chapters: 28

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. 14 by StevensonAuthor: Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Dec 12, 2009

Editor's review

This volume is the fourteenth of the Swanston Edition of Stevenson's works, a free public-domain ebook from Project Gutenberg. Stevenson is known for Treasure Island, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and other works; his essays, travel writing, and short stories likewise display the narrative charm and stylistic self-awareness of nineteenth-century English literature. As one volume of a collected edition, it suits readers working through his works volume by volume and researchers checking texts. The electronic edition is convenient for searching and excerpting, but note that it is the original English text and that public-domain books usually lack modern notes and introductions; read it alongside Stevenson's biography and the Victorian background to understand his style. Overall, this is a classic text suited to slow, repeated reading, valuable for showing the many sides of the author's writing rather than offering a popular introduction.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-literature lovers who want to read through Stevenson's works systematically
Scholars and students of nineteenth-century English literature and Stevenson's texts
Readers who like public-domain ebooks and are used to searching and taking notes themselves

Not a good fit for

Beginners who need a Chinese translation or line-by-line notes
Readers expecting a modern introduction, chronology, and detailed background commentary
Those who only want to read a single famous work such as Treasure Island and do not wish to read volume by volume

Reading tips

First check the table of contents for each volume of the Swanston Edition to confirm what this volume contains before planning a reading order.
While reading, note unfamiliar words and questions about the period, and look them up together after finishing each piece.
Compare with other selections of Stevenson's works, noting textual differences and editorial choices.
Read a fixed amount slowly each week; do not treat the collected works as a novel to be raced through for entertainment.

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.

FAQ

Which specific works does this fourteenth volume contain?

The supplied information only identifies it as the fourteenth volume of the Swanston Edition and does not list the contents. Check the table of contents on the Project Gutenberg page or after downloading before deciding on a reading order, rather than guessing.

How difficult is this English public-domain ebook to read?

Stevenson's language belongs to the nineteenth-century English prose tradition; its sentence patterns and vocabulary are somewhat distant for modern readers, but on the whole it is not very difficult. Readers with university-level English can read it with a dictionary; if it feels hard, start with the shorter pieces and adjust gradually.

Why are there no modern notes or introduction?

Project Gutenberg mainly provides free electronic versions of public-domain texts, usually preserving the original content without adding modern editorial notes, introductions, or chronologies. Readers who need background commentary should consult literary histories or scholarly editions of Stevenson separately.

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.