Robert Louis Stevenson: A Dual Or Split Personality

“With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to the truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two.”

- "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1885)

Robert Louis Stevenson was an exceptional writer, but he didn't get the respect he deserved. It was the duality in his works, which reflected in his upbringing.

Stevenson, who was born on November 13, 1850, came from Edinburgh. He knew the cold, proper Lowland Scots and the fiery Highlanders, and he wasn't conflicted about it. But he wanted to get away from it. Thomas Stevenson, his father, was a lighthouse engineer. He wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. But the young Stevenson was a sickly boy. He also had problems at school. He enjoyed playing games with children his age, though. He even showed an unusual dedication to literature. This led to his love of traveling. He was in his element whenever he was far and away.

He's one of them

Novels like "Kidnapped" sealed Stevenson's legacy. The Scot penned it years before he sailed to Hawaii and Samoa. It was a remarkable achievement, but his peers didn't share that sentiment.

During Stevenson's heyday, Modernist literature became the trend. Aldous Huxley, Rudyard Kipling, and Virginia Woolf were among the notable writers of this genre. (Most of them came from England.) The themes were introspective in nature, the stories reflected the uncertainty of the early years of the 20th century. It would inspire the next generation of writers. These would make Stevenson's works looked so simple, which was unfair. The Scot knew the craft too well. In fact, he wrote an essay on writing. Here is a quote:

"But if you want to know what a murder really is - to have a murder brought right home to you - you must read of one in the writings of a great writer. Read Macbeth, for example, or still better, get someone to read it aloud to you; and I think I can promise you what people call a 'sensation'."

Stevenson was open minded, asking Henry James about it. (The Londoner was another renowned writer of Literary modernism. He wrote a number of novels starring women, notably "The Portrait of a Lady" and "Wings of the Dove".) His good friend suggested writing about women. The Scot was stupefied, as he wondered where the action would go. He was aware of his roots, but he wanted to be his own man. He did find his identity thousands of miles away from Edinburgh. The man who wrote “Treasure Island” was in Samoa during the later years of his life. He was contented, but life became uneventful. There might be nothing else to write about.