The Complete Short Stories of Robert Louis Stevenson, With a Selection of the Best Short Novels. [Hardcover]

Robert Louis Stevenson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1969

Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) was a writer of power and originality, who penned such classics as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Weir of Hermiston. The editor has collected in convenient form Stevenson's short fiction, including the complete New Arabian Nights and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as well as ghost stories, medieval romances, farces, horror stories, and the South Sea Tales. This volume amply illustrates Stephenson’s wide range and enduring appeal.

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Released in 1969, this collection neatly gathers the full canon of Stevenson's short stories along with some short novels including The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. All that plus a scholarly introduction make it a bargain at this price.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Charles Neider is a noted literary critic, editor, and novelist. His many books as editor include Washington Irving’s George Washington: A Biography, The Complete Humorous Sketches and Tales of Mark Twain, The Great West: A Treasury of Firsthand Accountsand The Complete Short Stories of Robert Louis Stevenson. The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, The Autobiography of Mark Twain. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Doubleday (June 1969)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385078757
• ISBN-13: 978-0385078757
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,467,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite a reading experience!, July 12, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Bakersfield) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Short Stories Of Robert Louis Stevenson: With A Selection Of The Best Short Novels (Paperback)

There is nothing so exciting as a Stevenson novel--Kidnapped, Master of Ballantrae, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde--who can forget them once you've read them? These short stories have the same ability draw you in. The reading is effortless, and Stevenson's backgrounds don't labor with a conscious attempt at reality. They exist for the story and are as true as need be, and not more. From the South Sea to a Medieval City, the variety is pleasing and keeps you reading. Some of the best stories are "The Bottle Imp" (I doubt if a better twist on King Midas has ever been written), "Sire De Maltroit's Door" (A surprisingly good romance than manages, somehow, to skip all the usual elements) and "The Suicide Club" (not half as grim as it sounds, and showing RLS's ability to penetrate human thought).

These stories are highly recommended and aren't something to be read when you are all out of the "good" standard Stevenson--they stand as some of his best works and should be read just for the pure fun of it.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, October 27, 2001

By 

"wwwwisc" (Spooner, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Short Stories Of Robert Louis Stevenson: With A Selection Of The Best Short Novels (Paperback)

I stumbled upon the short stories of Stevenson kind of by accident, and what a happy accident that was! I can now say that Stevenson wrote both some of my favorite novels and some of my favorite short stories. I haven't gotten around to reading all of his stories yet, but I have loved those that I have read. I can't possibly describe how much I enjoyed Markheim, which is without a doubt my favorite short story of all time. Despite my rather limited reading of Stevenson's short stories, I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poorly edited, October 12, 2010

By 

Surajit A. Bose "Karmadgeon" (Palo Alto, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Short Stories Of Robert Louis Stevenson: With A Selection Of The Best Short Novels (Paperback)

Stevenson is one of the great stylists of the English language, and his plots are gripping. Yet this volume is a disappointment. The title is misleading; several of Stevenson's stories have been left out, for no better reason than that the editor says in the introduction that he doesn't like them, and so doesn't find them worthy of inclusion! "Olalla" and "The Treasure of Franchard" are among those that are not in this volume.

Additionally, there is no textual or critical apparatus whatsoever. No explanation of how the editor arrived at definitive versions of the stories; no footnotes to explain difficult dialectal terms or words that have fallen into disuse. This makes some of the tales (notably "Thrawn Janet") very uphill going.

Certainly the stories themselves are wonderful--"Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" in particular is a much better read than you'd expect if you know only the movie versions. But get a different edition. I replaced this with The Complete Stories of Robert Louis Stevenson: Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Nineteen Other Tales (Modern Library Classics).