The Scottish Novels: Kidnapped, Catriona, The Master of Ballantrae and Weir of Hermiston

Canongate Classics

by Robert Louis Stevenson, Jenni Calder (Introduction), Roderick Watson (Introduction)

Four great novels take us deep into Robert Louis Stevenson's imaginative and bittersweet relationship with his native country. Kidnapped, and its sequel Catriona, are renowned the world over as supreme stories of adventure and romance. On another level they also explore the subtle divisions of Scottish history and character in the 18th century, and (some would say) the present day.

The Master of Ballantrae takes a darker and more disturbing turn, with its tale of rival brothers caught in a web of hatred, obsession, love, and betrayal which draws them to their end in the frozen wastes of North America.

Stevenson's fascination with the divided nature of the human self (most obviously demonstrated in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) appears again in the Weir of Hermiston with its terrible confrontation between a father and his son.

With an unsurpassed combination of physical adventure and psychological insight, The Scottish Novels have moved and thrilled readers and writers from Stevenson's contemporaries to the present day.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Scotland, Historical Fiction

864 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 1997

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

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have finished Kidnapped and Catriona; the others will have to wait. Stevenson gives Balfour a set of principles and then sends him out into the world to see what he will do in all kinds of circumstances. I really enjoyed these stories. There is plenty here to think about, but just a good yarn as well.

[Jeff Carpenter · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Kidnapped, I couldn't make sense of his meaning in a few places, and I couldn't follow his reasoning for his David doing what he had just said he wouldn't do. I'm afraid I gave up before it really got started.
I was interested in Weir of Hermiston but the language and the premise were too alien; I was put off right away.

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

outstanding book....

although, beware the last story is the one he was writing when he died.

[Martin Bihl]

Finished Catriona on 12/6/02

Finished Kidnapped on l0/31/02

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kidnapped - 4 stars
Catriona - 2 stars - snore
Master of Ballantrae - 5 stars!
Weir of Hermiston - ???? next?