Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Synopsis
With an Introduction and Notes by Dr Tim Middleton, Head of English Studies, University of Ripon and York.
In seeking to discover his inner self, the brilliant Dr Jekyll discovers a monster. First published to critical acclaim in 1886, this mesmerising thriller is a terrifying study of the duality of man's nature, and it is the book which established Stevenson's reputation as a writer.
Also included in this volume is Stevenson's 1887 collection of short stories, The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables.
The Merry Men is a gripping Highland tale of shipwrecks and madness; Markheim, the sinister study of the mind of a murderer; Thrawn Janet, a spine-chilling tale of demonic possession; Olalla, a study of degeneration and incipient vampirism in the Spanish mountains; Will O' the Mill, a thought-provoking fable about a mountain inn-keeper; and The Treasure of Franchard, a study of French bourgeois life.
Reviews
"This classic tale . . . addresses the duality in man's nature and is here illustrated with twelve atmospheric woodcuts by Barry Moser that underscore the darkness of Stevenson's tale and continue Moser's legacy of bringing new life to the classics." Bloomsbury Review
About the Author
Robert Louis Stevenson was intended by his father to be an engineer, trained as a lawyer, and became a writer of stories of high adventure. They were devalued by the modernists but have come to be taken much more seriously by critics in recent years. Stevenson had poor health his whole life, but he still lived a live of adventure, spending many of his last years at sea in the South Pacific. He died at 44 and was buried on the Samoan island of Upolu.