Century of Great Short Science Fiction Novels

by Robert Louis Stevenson

COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Collections

314 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

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

[James Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1962 Damon Knight edited a collection of Science Fiction short stories and excerpts titled A Century of Science Fiction. He followed that with this collection in 1964 that six Science Fiction novellas. They include a couple of my favorites: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells. These novellas share in common the depiction of scientific experiments gone awry. Dr. Jekyll creates an alter ego in Mr. Hyde who represents his private evil side. As an allegory about the nature of good and evil it has continued, even in the age of Freud, to haunt readers and raise questions for thought. Likewise, Well's Invisible Man's experiment goes awry with unintended consequences that drive the scientist mad. Not that the scientist who became invisible wasn't somewhat demented before he attempted his experiment in invisibility. Both tales are examples of imagining the darker side of humanity. As a result they both haunt and fascinate the reader.
The other tales include in this anthology are no less imaginative and represent writers of renown like Karel Capek and Robert Heinlein. Themes include humor, the possibility of a superman, and the potential nature of future cultures. The collection covers a breadth of SF that provides both an introduction and a depiction of the possibilities of speculation on a grand scale.