It all came from a single source.
In 1883, Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson published The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys. It has been first serialized in 1881 and 1882 in a children’s magazine, Young Folks, under another title – Treasure Island, or the Mutiny of the Hispaniola. It was under the title Treasure Island that the novel became what may be the most adapted book of all times, inspiring films, radio programs, comic books, television series, theater plays, musical compositions, and even video games.
It was the first book by Stevenson I read, about age 10. Not long after, I read his 1883 novel The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses, his adventure (and romance) story of the War of the Roses. I recall reading it three times; I found it far more compelling that Treasure Island.
If I read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), I’ve forgotten when it was. It’s become so much of the general culture that it’s difficult to know if I read it or saw the movie(s) a dozen times. I read the edition just published by T.S. Poetry Press, illustrated by Sara Barkat, and it surprised me. It’s not the story of the stark contrast of the good and evil in all of us, or the dangers of scientific experiments.
To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.
Some Tuesday Readings
Poetry book – poem and artwork by Sonja Benskin Mesher.
T.S. Eliot and the Fight to Recover What Has Been Lost – Douglas Murray at The Free Press.
The enormous humility of C.S. Lewis – A.N. Wilson at The Spectator.
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