Having recently read both 'Treasure Island' and 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' by Robert Louis Stevenson I wanted to know more about the author's life and times -
Was Treasure Island Based on a True Story from History?⛵🏝📖☠
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| '1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die' |
I was also surprised to see the French author Guy de Maupassant had a very similar, but nastier (I think) short story titled 'The Diary of a Madman', which I think must have had some influence on Crowley's book title about drug addiction, 'Diary of a Drug Fiend'.
I found a podcast called 'Straight Talking English' which had a few episodes about Stevenson and his Jekyll & Hyde book, which I found rather enlightening.
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| Diary of a Madman by Guy de Maupassant |
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| Diary of a Drug Fiend by Aleister Crowley |
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| Straight Talking English Podcast: Doctor Jekyll |
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| Straight Talking English Podcast: Duality in Jekyll and Hyde |
In early 1884, he wrote the short story "Markheim", which he revised in 1884 for publication in a Christmas annual. According to his essay "A Chapter on Dreams" (Scribner's, Jan. 1888), he racked his brains for an idea for a story and had a dream, and upon waking had the intuition for two or three scenes that would appear in the story Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Biographer, Graham Balfour, quoted Stevenson's wife, Fanny Stevenson:
In the small hours of one morning,[...] I was awakened by cries of horror from Louis.
In the small hours of one morning,[...] I was awakened by cries of horror from Louis.
Thinking he had a nightmare, I awakened him. He said angrily: "Why did you wake me? I was dreaming a fine bogey tale." I had awakened him at the first transformation scene.
Lloyd Osbourne, Stevenson's stepson, wrote: "I don't believe that there was ever such a literary feat before as the writing of Dr. Jekyll. I remember the first reading as though it were yesterday. Louis came downstairs in a fever; read nearly half the book aloud; and then, while we were still gasping, he was away again, and busy writing. I doubt if the first draft took so long as three days.""
Whitley Strieber, Communion, THEM and The UFO Rabbit Hole?🛸🕳🐇
Lloyd Osbourne, Stevenson's stepson, wrote: "I don't believe that there was ever such a literary feat before as the writing of Dr. Jekyll. I remember the first reading as though it were yesterday. Louis came downstairs in a fever; read nearly half the book aloud; and then, while we were still gasping, he was away again, and busy writing. I doubt if the first draft took so long as three days.""
Well, I guess listening to all of those podcasts above and watching those movies kept me and my shadow off the streets for a while, if nothing else;-)
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