The Great Short Stories of Robert Louis Stevenson

by Robert Louis Stevenson

The anonymous Editors "[offer] to the public this collection of Great Short Stories... with the comfortable certainty that the edition... will be enjoyed by an immense public. For in this book, all you who seek delight in reading, and look for other works by storytellers who have brought you pleasure in the past, will discover new tales and adventures to beguile the hour."

Contents:
PAGE
1 . The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
69 . The Pavilion on the Links
126 . A Lodging for the Night
148 . Markheim
167 . The Bottle Imp
199 . The Sire de Malétroit's Door
221 . The Beach of Falesá
293 . The Suicide Club
— 293. Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts
— 324. Story of the Physician and the Saratoga Trunk
— 350. The Adventures of the Hansom Cab

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Mystery, Classics

370 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

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

[Lobstergirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this tome at the family manse, desperate for a little light, discretely packaged reading. (Consumable in small chunks.) It was my first RLS prose and I see no need to continue through his oeuvre, based on the penny dreadful "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," the hackneyed "Bottle Imp," the poor-man's-John-Buchan "Pavilion on the Links," and the others. Of course Buchan wrote after Stevenson, his style uncannily similar, but his adventure tales for genteel adults improve a bit on S's rather godawful plot. S's physical description is the best thing about this ridiculous story:

The Sea-Wood of Graden had been planted to shelter the cultivated fields behind, and check the encroachments of the blowing sand. As you advanced into it from coastward, elders were succeeded by other hardy shrubs; but the timber was all stunted and bushy; it led a life of conflict; the trees were accustomed to swing there all night long in fierce winter tempests; and even in early spring, the leaves were already flying, and autumn was beginning, in this exposed plantation. Inland the ground rose into a little hill, which, along with the islet, served as a sailing mark for seamen. When the hill was open of the islet to the north, vessels must bear well to the eastward to clear Graden Ness and the Graden Bullers. In the lower ground, a streamlet ran among the trees, and, being dammed with dead leaves and clay of its own carrying, spread out every here and there, and lay in stagnant pools. One or two ruined cottages were dotted about the wood; and, according to Northmour, these were ecclesiastical foundations, and in their time had sheltered pious hermits.

I don't know if my 1951 Pocket Books Collector's Edition was bowdlerized or not (as the original serialization of The Beach of Falesá was), but there were references to niggers (as a literary-historical project, I always count them):

"When we were at the job a good many Kanakas used to put in the best of the day looking on, and once that nigger turned up. He stood back with the natives and laughed and did the big don and the funny dog, until I began to get riled."

"Here, you nigger!" says I.

"I don't address myself to you, Sah," says the nigger. "Only speak to gen'le'um."

and:

Pretty soon after, the nigger was turned out of the island for stealing from white men, and went off to the west, where he found men of his own colour, in case he liked that, and the men of his own colour took him and ate him at some kind of a corroborree, and I'm sure I hope he was to their fancy!

The story is considered groundbreaking in its positive portrayal of miscegenation. The white narrator married to an native woman writes of their offspring:

I'm stuck here, I fancy. I don't like to leave the kids, you see...they're better here than what they would be in a white man's country, though Ben took the eldest up to Auckland, where he's being schooled with the best. But what bothers me is the girls. They're only half-castes, of course; I know that as well as you do, and there's nobody thinks less of half-castes than I do; but they're mine, and they're about all I've got. I can't reconcile my mind to their taking up with Kanakas, and I'd like to know where I'm to find the whites?

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Over all I found the stories interesting and very parabolic. They were filled with life lessons and understandings that transition well into today's world. My biggest issue was trying to read something from an older perspective as quickly as I could, and the short stories allowed me to put the book down and dread picking it up again.
I was really interested in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Being a sci-fi fan it was not at all what I was expecting visually or literally. More of a tale of man's inner struggles, where film and pop culture portrays it more of just a mutation or science experiment gone wrong.
Glad I read and will probably read the stories again in the future.

[Richard Epstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this collection of stories so long ago, that I was too young to understand some of what I read. (Too young for Stevenson!) A Lodging for the Night makes a lot less sense when you've never heard of François Villon. But I persevered and read it to tatters. Now that I'm all growed up and properly educated and stuff, I know that there are short story writers greater than RLS, but my affection persists. The first one through the door gets the best seat.

[Carlos West · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a fan of Robert Louis Stevenson it is a gratifying find to come across his short stories in book form as most book stores over the years have just stocked his novels. Two of the "short stories" in this collection are actually novellas: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The Beach of Falesá. A good companion piece to this is, The Supernatural Short Stories of RLS(Dell paperback). In this book, additional stories such as- The Body Snatchers, Thrawn Janet, Ollala, and the posthumous release, Waif Woman, among others are included. An interesting aside is the fact that the "Pocket Books" edition of the 1950's has the same exact cover and number of pages as the Washington Square Press edition, which was 1st printed in 1941 and had 20 printings through 1964! Very odd. This may have been one of the last paperbacks to have had a 45¢ cover price. The pages have a little browning now but other than that, it's holding up well.

[Rebecca Faith Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a fan of short stories, they tend to depress me, probably because I miss the point, but some of these are nice.

[Morgan Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

People don’t write like this anymore and that’s a shame!

[Molly G · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ~ a reread. After being so saturated with all the adaptations it's inspired, was surprised at the parts and aspects I didn't remember at all, and how it's much more complex and morally ambiguous than has translated into mass consciousness. I do enjoy some of the adaptations, but the original in this case remains the most sophisticated and wonderful.

The Pavilion on the Links ~ finished May 25, '08. Engrossing and enjoyable read.

A Lodging for the Night ~ Jun 16. A bit stranger.

Markheim ~ Jul 3. Salvaged by the ending. (Finished on a plane from LAX to ORD.)

The Bottle Imp ~ Jul 31. Just loved it. The setting, imagery, the characters, their relationships, balance of description to action and knowing where to omit description, vivid depiction of a religiosity without conceit or judgment (or moralizing); a great short story in all respects, including being perfectly suited to its length.

The Sire de Malétroit's Door ~ Jul 31. Editors of the anthology say this of it:
'No word need be said, we are sure, about "The Sire de Malétroit's Door," except that if you have not read it, we envy you from the bottom of our hearts—for there is no joy that has to do with books quite like that of reading a wonderful short story for the first time.' (Preface.)
My feelings are a bit more mixed. ;-) Definitely well-written, engaging, filled without conceit or overwroughtness with the fascinating ideas Stevenson simply writes in always; just ultimately left with a feeling of, "...Oy" at the outcome and how it relates to characters' actions and attitudes. Which is most probably a deliberate theme.

The Beach at Falesá ~ Aug 11. Complicated reactions, mostly negative, though think it's a case of the author exploring negatives via a character who doesn't find them negative.

The Suicide Club ~ Aug 26. That fascinating creature of the ideal sovereign crops up again; someone who can earn and command total love and loyalty from a two-minute casual conversation, both on a personal/social and a political level. My own usage of the word "fascinating" is tricky since in a way this ideal character jades me a tad against the story, but I suppose it's used well enough and evened out. The first part (of three) of the story is the only one in which he's the protagonist, rather than a flitting presence, and in that one we see his less idealized qualities which get him into the plot at all.

When I entered and rated each story individually, (not counting Jekyll and Hyde which I think of as a separate entity) none scored higher than The Bottle Imp with three stars. Taken in totality, even those stories I wasn't as fond of are elevated in fondness by connection with all the others.

[Emily Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

good stories, great cover.

[Jim Booth · Rating 5 out of 5]

See my review at www.newsoutherngentleman.goodreads.com - or see my author page for the link.

[Starry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Own this. Read it more than a decade ago so due for a reread.

[elias · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was amazing to have time to read this book , love his way to describe the adventure , feelings , and love