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Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers
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154 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1881
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192 people want to read
About the author
Robert Louis Stevenson
6,834 books6,941 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.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 3, 2016
I can imagine having a fabulous time listening to this guy talk for hours and then saying, "thanks for the swell time, let's do it again tomorrow, I think you're nuts." ; )
This is the well expressed, often misguided and comical (through not meaning to be so), opinions of a strongly opinionated young man. Some rays of wisdom shine through, but all in all, Stevenson does not seem to form his thoughts on Solid Truth but mere Englishness and "logic".
Still, highly quotable.
My copy is dated 1905, is in rough shape, but it's how Stevenson ought to be read, for sure.
This is the well expressed, often misguided and comical (through not meaning to be so), opinions of a strongly opinionated young man. Some rays of wisdom shine through, but all in all, Stevenson does not seem to form his thoughts on Solid Truth but mere Englishness and "logic".
Still, highly quotable.
My copy is dated 1905, is in rough shape, but it's how Stevenson ought to be read, for sure.
March 29, 2012
This collection of essays is a wee bit variable: some incline to the mawkish, like the worst of Jerome K Jerome, but then there are gems such as 'Ordered South' and 'Child's Play', which describes the inner life of a child so much better than any modern psychologist. If I were judging individual essays, there would be several 5 stars, so overall I recommend it, just skip if one is not to your taste. It's left me wishing I could have known the author - always a good sign. I read an old Nelson Classics copy, but it is also available on PG.
August 2, 2014
[Read as part of the collected Works of Robert Louis Stevenson]
It would not be bragging to say that at this point I've read quite a substantial amount of Stevenson's writing. This was the weakest, far and away.
The title translates as something like 'advice for young people,' and I suppose that this collection of essays could be considered as such at the time of their writing. Unfortunately, most of the topics (a perfect example being his painfully dated dissertation on why gas streetlighting is superior to both its predecessor oil and its successor electricity) are so geared to the times in which they were written, no substantive advice is to be gleaned for moderns.
The essays run the gamut from the aforementioned 'Plea for Gas Lamps' to the jingoistic, ethnocentric 'The English Admirals,' the maudlin 'Child's Play' to the esoteric championing of nature in 'Pan's Pipes' and 'Walking Tours.' The most painstaking, overlong essay is the opening title piece, which offers earnest advice to young folks as told by a grand old man all in his 30s; needless to say, the input he offers can hardly be coloured by the experience of age, as he gives it to people roughly one decade his juniors.
His writing here is not of the standard he holds in his fiction, and too often leans toward the condescending and vaguely humourous style I suppose is typical of period essays.
If this were a single volume in my library, I'd only too happily be rid of it. As it is part of a single-volume collection of his works, I'll simply never read it again.
It would not be bragging to say that at this point I've read quite a substantial amount of Stevenson's writing. This was the weakest, far and away.
The title translates as something like 'advice for young people,' and I suppose that this collection of essays could be considered as such at the time of their writing. Unfortunately, most of the topics (a perfect example being his painfully dated dissertation on why gas streetlighting is superior to both its predecessor oil and its successor electricity) are so geared to the times in which they were written, no substantive advice is to be gleaned for moderns.
The essays run the gamut from the aforementioned 'Plea for Gas Lamps' to the jingoistic, ethnocentric 'The English Admirals,' the maudlin 'Child's Play' to the esoteric championing of nature in 'Pan's Pipes' and 'Walking Tours.' The most painstaking, overlong essay is the opening title piece, which offers earnest advice to young folks as told by a grand old man all in his 30s; needless to say, the input he offers can hardly be coloured by the experience of age, as he gives it to people roughly one decade his juniors.
His writing here is not of the standard he holds in his fiction, and too often leans toward the condescending and vaguely humourous style I suppose is typical of period essays.
If this were a single volume in my library, I'd only too happily be rid of it. As it is part of a single-volume collection of his works, I'll simply never read it again.
August 12, 2023
As a pontificator, Stevenson suffers from excessive boring of the audience.
November 25, 2014
A must have in the personal library.
January 21, 2022
A quaint series of short essays. The author shows progressive views (for his time), and it's quite refreshing to see what a man of the 19th century looked forward to.
December 27, 2025
“It takes,” says Thoreau, in the noblest and most useful passage I remember to have read in any modern author, “two to speak truth —one to speak and another to hear.” He must be very little experienced, or have no great zeal for truth, who does not recognise the fact. A grain of anger or a grain of suspicion produces strange acoustical effects, and makes the ear greedy to remark offence. Hence we find those who have once quarreled carry themselves distantly, and are ever ready to break the truce. To speak truth there must be moral equality or else no respect; and hence between parent and child intercourse is apt to degenerate into a verbal fencing bout, and misapprehensions to become ingrained. And there is another side to this, for the parent begins with an imperfect notion of the child’s character, formed in early years or during the equinoctial gales of youth; to this he adheres, noting only the facts which suit with his preconception; and wherever a person fancies himself unjustly judged, he at once finally gives up the effort to speak truth. With our chosen friends, on the other hand, and still more between lovers (for mutual understanding is love’s essence), the truth is easily indicated by the one and aptly comprehended by the other. A hint taken, a look understood, conveys the gist of long and delicate explanations; and where the life is known even yea and nay become luminous.
—
For a strong affection such moments are worth supporting, and they will end well; for your advocate is in your lover’s heart and speaks her own language; it is not you but she herself who can defend and clear you of the charge. But in slighter intimacies, and for a less stringent union? Indeed, is it worth while? We are all incompris, only more or less concerned for the mischance; all trying wrongly to do right; all fawning at each other’s feet like dumb, neglected lap-dogs. Some we catch an eye—this is our opportunity in ages— and we wag our tail with a poor smile. “Is that all?” All? If you only knew! But how can they know? They do not love us: the more fools we to squander life on the indifferent.
—
Extreme busyness, whether at school or college, kirk o market, is a symptom of deficient vitality; and a faculty for idleness implies a catholic appetite and a strong sense of personal identity. There is a sort of dead-alive, hackneyed people about, who are scarcely conscious of living except in the exercise of some conventional occupation. Bring these fellows into the country, or set them aboard ship, and you will see how they pine for their desk or their study. They have no curiosity; they cannot give themselves to random provocations; they do not take pleasure in the exercise of their faculties for its own sake; and unless Necessity lays about them with a stick, they will even stand still. It is no good speaking to such folk: they cannot be idle, their nature is not generous enough; and they pass those hours in a sort of coma, which are not dedicated to furious moiling in the gold-mill.
—
As courage and intelligence are the two qualities best worth a good man’s cultivation, so it is the first part of intelligence to recognise our precarious estate in life, and the first part of courage to be not at all abashed before the facts.
—
For a strong affection such moments are worth supporting, and they will end well; for your advocate is in your lover’s heart and speaks her own language; it is not you but she herself who can defend and clear you of the charge. But in slighter intimacies, and for a less stringent union? Indeed, is it worth while? We are all incompris, only more or less concerned for the mischance; all trying wrongly to do right; all fawning at each other’s feet like dumb, neglected lap-dogs. Some we catch an eye—this is our opportunity in ages— and we wag our tail with a poor smile. “Is that all?” All? If you only knew! But how can they know? They do not love us: the more fools we to squander life on the indifferent.
—
Extreme busyness, whether at school or college, kirk o market, is a symptom of deficient vitality; and a faculty for idleness implies a catholic appetite and a strong sense of personal identity. There is a sort of dead-alive, hackneyed people about, who are scarcely conscious of living except in the exercise of some conventional occupation. Bring these fellows into the country, or set them aboard ship, and you will see how they pine for their desk or their study. They have no curiosity; they cannot give themselves to random provocations; they do not take pleasure in the exercise of their faculties for its own sake; and unless Necessity lays about them with a stick, they will even stand still. It is no good speaking to such folk: they cannot be idle, their nature is not generous enough; and they pass those hours in a sort of coma, which are not dedicated to furious moiling in the gold-mill.
—
As courage and intelligence are the two qualities best worth a good man’s cultivation, so it is the first part of intelligence to recognise our precarious estate in life, and the first part of courage to be not at all abashed before the facts.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 14, 2025
Ξεπερασμένο; Σίγουρα. Αξίζει να καθίσει κάποιος-α να διαβάσει τις 170 σελίδες αυτού του μικρού σε μέγεθος βιβλίου;
O Ρόμπερτ Λούις Μπάλφουρ Στήβενσον είναι γνωστός για τα έργα του «Το Nησί των Θησαυρών», «Δόκτωρ Τζέκιλ και Κύριος Χάιντ» και «Η Απαγωγή». Για αυτά που δεν είναι γνωστός είναι τα δεκάδες δοκίμια και άρθρα του.
Το ανά χείρας δοκίμιο αποτελείται από τέσσερα διαφορετικά κείμενα τα οποία δημοσιεύτηκαν από το 1876 έως το 1879: «Virginibus Puerisque I» («Για τις νέες & τους νέους», 1876), «Virginibus Puerisque II» (1881), «Για τον Έρωτα» (1877), «Η Ειλικρίνια στις Ανθρώπινες Σχέσεις» (1879).
Στα περισσότερα που γράφει, ο Στήβενσον παραμένει εκπληκτικά επίκαιρος 148 χρόνια μετά, κάνοντας ανατομία στη ψυχοσύνθεση ανδρών, γυναικών και καταστάσεων - έγγαμων και άγαμων. Με τρομερή μαεστρία, θα μας κάνει να σκεφτούμε γιατί παντρευτήκαμε ή γιατί δεν παντρευτήκαμε ή γιατί χωρίσαμε ή γιατί δεν χωρίσαμε ακόμα. Θα μας κάνει να στοχαστούμε για τον αληθινό έρωτα και φυσικά για το πόσο ειλικρινείς είμαστε (εάν είμαστε καθόλου) στις σχέσεις μας.
Φυσικά το βιβλίο το γράφει ένας άνδρας και αναπόφευκτα βλέπουμε την ανδρική πλευρά μόνο σε πολλά πράγματα. Ωστόσο, ο Στήβενσον είναι αρκετά ειλικρινής ώστε να παραδεχτεί ότι κάποια (πολλά;) πράγματα για τις γυναίκες δεν τα καταλαβαίνει και έτσι δεν τα αγγίζει. Τούτο δεν μειώνει διόλου την αξία που έχει το βιβλίο για όλους και όλες.
O Ρόμπερτ Λούις Μπάλφουρ Στήβενσον είναι γνωστός για τα έργα του «Το Nησί των Θησαυρών», «Δόκτωρ Τζέκιλ και Κύριος Χάιντ» και «Η Απαγωγή». Για αυτά που δεν είναι γνωστός είναι τα δεκάδες δοκίμια και άρθρα του.
Το ανά χείρας δοκίμιο αποτελείται από τέσσερα διαφορετικά κείμενα τα οποία δημοσιεύτηκαν από το 1876 έως το 1879: «Virginibus Puerisque I» («Για τις νέες & τους νέους», 1876), «Virginibus Puerisque II» (1881), «Για τον Έρωτα» (1877), «Η Ειλικρίνια στις Ανθρώπινες Σχέσεις» (1879).
Στα περισσότερα που γράφει, ο Στήβενσον παραμένει εκπληκτικά επίκαιρος 148 χρόνια μετά, κάνοντας ανατομία στη ψυχοσύνθεση ανδρών, γυναικών και καταστάσεων - έγγαμων και άγαμων. Με τρομερή μαεστρία, θα μας κάνει να σκεφτούμε γιατί παντρευτήκαμε ή γιατί δεν παντρευτήκαμε ή γιατί χωρίσαμε ή γιατί δεν χωρίσαμε ακόμα. Θα μας κάνει να στοχαστούμε για τον αληθινό έρωτα και φυσικά για το πόσο ειλικρινείς είμαστε (εάν είμαστε καθόλου) στις σχέσεις μας.
Φυσικά το βιβλίο το γράφει ένας άνδρας και αναπόφευκτα βλέπουμε την ανδρική πλευρά μόνο σε πολλά πράγματα. Ωστόσο, ο Στήβενσον είναι αρκετά ειλικρινής ώστε να παραδεχτεί ότι κάποια (πολλά;) πράγματα για τις γυναίκες δεν τα καταλαβαίνει και έτσι δεν τα αγγίζει. Τούτο δεν μειώνει διόλου την αξία που έχει το βιβλίο για όλους και όλες.
April 30, 2023
Escuchar a tu tío boomer hablar del amor por 100 páginas zzzzz
February 12, 2024
I didn't finish the last two 15-16 pages. It's all a bit too old fashioned, but you can find some sharp observations, too.
March 22, 2025
Brilliant essays.
Love, marriage, conversational truth.
Love, marriage, conversational truth.
May 27, 2017
As I seem to be giving this book a lower rating than other readers have, I can't help feeling that perhaps I have missed something. Possibly I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for reading it. I had put off reading this particular volume for years. It had never looked particular appealing, and in the event, it proved to be as uninspiring as its title. It was neither highly humorous, nor highly interesting. In many ways it felt trivial and pointless, so I couldn't give it my full concentration or read it with a clear conscience when I felt like I should be spending my time on more profitable things.
Stevenson did make some good observations, and there were times where he came out with statements which bordered on being quotable - though on further consideration they generally seemed unexceptional, or inaccurate. One of the essays which I enjoyed most (for no particular reason) was Some Portraits by Raeburn. Maybe I just liked it best when Stevenson was just writing in plain English and being observant, rather than sinking to philosophizing or waxing lyrical or droning on with obscure vocabulary. It's possibly a book which I would give a more favourable review of if I read it again under the right circumstances - and when I knew what to expect. If I were to read any portion of it again, it would be the title piece, Virginibus Puerisque, where Stevenson's observations seemed to be most interesting and engaging, and indeed, perhaps even useful.
Stevenson did make some good observations, and there were times where he came out with statements which bordered on being quotable - though on further consideration they generally seemed unexceptional, or inaccurate. One of the essays which I enjoyed most (for no particular reason) was Some Portraits by Raeburn. Maybe I just liked it best when Stevenson was just writing in plain English and being observant, rather than sinking to philosophizing or waxing lyrical or droning on with obscure vocabulary. It's possibly a book which I would give a more favourable review of if I read it again under the right circumstances - and when I knew what to expect. If I were to read any portion of it again, it would be the title piece, Virginibus Puerisque, where Stevenson's observations seemed to be most interesting and engaging, and indeed, perhaps even useful.
August 5, 2012
Selection of essays on subjects as varied as marriage, illness, age and youth, idlers, English Admirals and (my favourite) the romance of old gas lamps in newly electrified Edinburgh (1878). I enjoyed learning about Greenville's last stand against the Spanish in 1591, the Marines on the Wager and the soldiers on the Birkenhead whose heroic example a celebrated example of duty to Victorians the Empire over.
August 24, 2017
I have a collection of Stevenson books published in 1930 sitting on a shelf. Just a decoration. I wanted to feel one of the books in my hands. I chose the one I had never read before. It felt good. Different than newer books. More solid. I started reading about marriage and death and couldn't stop.
December 21, 2015
I have never been much of a Stevenson fan and still so. This volume did have some enjoyable parts but not enough for me to recommend it. my feelings towards the author could have had some influence on my rating.
May 8, 2014
Reading and re-reading RLS's essays (collected here and elsewhere) has become one of the chief pleasures of my life.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews