The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, second edition (Broadview Edition) [Paperback]

Robert Louis Stevenson (Author), Martin A. Danahay (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1551116553 | ISBN-13: 978-1551116556 | Publication Date: July 12, 2005 | Edition: 2

First published in 1886 as a "shilling shocker," Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde takes the basic struggle between good and evil and adds to the mix bourgeois respectability, urban violence, and class conflict. The result is a tale that has taken on the force of myth in the popular imagination. This Broadview edition provides a fascinating selection of contextual material, including contemporary reviews of the novel, Stevenson's essay "A Chapter on Dreams," and excerpts from the 1887 stage version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Also included are historical documents on criminality and degeneracy, the "Jack the Ripper" murders, and London in the 1880s. New to this second edition are an updated critical introduction and, in the appendices, writings on Victorian psychology by Thomas Carlyle, Richard Krafft-Ebing, and Henry Maudsley, among others.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Martin Danahay's edition of Jekyll and Hyde is a treasure-trove of biographical, cultural, and historical materials. It makes a number of important contexts for interpretation available through its accessible but intriguing assemblage of ancillary documents. It cannot fail to be the inspiration for deeper investigations of a masterpiece that is itself at the crossroads of Victorian anxieties about sex, class, psychology, evolution, and the rise of popular culture." (John Kucich )

"The appendices to this edition offer the reader a splendid sense of the book’s cultural background. Especially interesting are the selections from nineteenth-century psychology. The discussions concerning the nature of dreaming and the concept of the 'double-brain' add an intriguing dimension to one’s understanding of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde." (Ann C. Colley, author of Robert Louis Stevenson and the Colonial Imagination )

"Danahay provides an authoritative text, an excellent introductory commentary, an up to date bibliography, and a well-chosen set of contextualizing appendices. For an in-depth understanding of Stevenson's masterpiece of horror this is the text of choice." (Patrick Brantlinger )

"Danahay's edition of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde places that text in a variety of important and enriching contexts, using selections from Stevenson's letters and other relevant works, as well as contemporary reviews and responses (including a Punch parody and an early adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde for the stage). The appendices also connect Stevenson's novel with Victorian thought about psychology, criminality, degeneracy, and urban life. Providing a splendid, brief immersion in late Victorian culture, this edition will be a boon to the classroom or to an individual's private enjoyment of this classic tale." (Gordon Hirsch )

"Martin Danahay's edition justifies our on-going admiration for this masterpiece of English literature. The appendices offer students and scholars alike interesting and important insights into the cultural context of the novel." (Patricia O'Neill )

"Martin Danahay's new edition of the Robert Louis Stevenson horror fantasy classic (first published in 1886) sets this seminal, influential work firmly in the context out of which it emerged. The many appendices include a range of contemporary reactions to the novel; a selection of Victorian views on criminality and degeneracy; descriptions of Soho and London's West End in the 1880s; and a portfolio of newspaper accounts of and reaction to the 'Jack the Ripper' murders. This scholarly edition of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is highly recommended for personal and academic library collections and literary studies reading lists." (Midwest Book Review )

From the Back Cover

First published in 1886 as a "shilling shocker," Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde takes the basic struggle between good and evil and adds to the mix bourgeois respectability, urban violence, and class conflict. The result is a tale that has taken on the force of myth in the popular imagination. This Broadview edition provides a fascinating selection of contextual material, including contemporary reviews of the novel, Stevenson's essay "A Chapter on Dreams," and excerpts from the 1887 stage version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Also included are historical documents on criminality and degeneracy, the "Jack the Ripper" murders, and London in the 1880s. New to this second edition are an updated critical introduction and, in the appendices, writings on Victorian psychology by Thomas Carlyle, Richard Krafft-Ebing, and Henry Maudsley, among others.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 215 pages
• Publisher: Broadview Press; 2 edition (July 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1551116553
• ISBN-13: 978-1551116556
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (308 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #189,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do You Know the True Story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde??, July 6, 2004

By 

Stephen Pletko "Uncle Stevie" (London, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Signet Classics) (Paperback)

+++++

I have seen many movie versions of this classic. So, I made the assumption that I knew the true story. Then I read this book. Was my assumption ever wrong!!!

This particular book (published by Signet Classics in Sept. 2003) of less than 150 pages has five parts:

(1) Opening Pages. They include a brief biography of Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 to 1894). (Takes up 4% of the book.)
(2) Introductory Essay. This was written by the late, famous Russian author Vladimir Nabokov. (Takes up 20%.)
(3) The Actual Story. Its original title is "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1886). (Takes up 65%.)
(4) Afterword to the Story. It is written by a modern writer. (Takes up 8%.)
(5) Selected Bibliography. Outlines great works by and about R.L. Stevenson. (Takes up 3%.)

The introductory essay was an actual lecture Nabokov gave when he was associate professor at Cornell University from 1948 to 1959. It gives a thorough, detailed analysis of this "seldom read" classic.

The afterword consists of a shorter analysis of this classic by the modern writer Dan Chaon. I felt that this afterword provided valuable insight regarding the story of Jekyll and Hyde.

Chaon sums up the entire story: "The structure of ['Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'] follows a path as indirect and elusive as its multiple narrative voices. With its obliquely recorded incidents, its eyewitness accounts and sealed confessions, it resembles...a [police detective's] casebook--a collection of gathered clues, fragments, through which the clever detective may be able to...project a complete narrative. Perhaps one of the most compelling aspects of this novel [of ten chapters] is that, in fact, there's so much left here for [the reader] to fill in, so many scenes that [the reader] can only imagine. Such a structure creates fertile ground for allegory [a story with symbolic meaning] hunters, and there are indeed many convincing interpretations of this novel...The puzzle-like structure of the novel [which only has eight major male characters] creates a kind of Rorechach test, open to various interpretations." (A Rorechach test is where a person interprets inkblot designs.)

The inspiration of this short novel is said to have come from a dream (or, perhaps more accurately, a nightmare) Stevenson had. His actual writing is amazing and skillful in all chapters. The writing especially of the last two chapters, chapters nine and ten, stood out for me. Here, for example, is his actual description of what happened when somebody observed someone using Dr. Jekyll's concoction: "He put the glass to his lips and drank at one gulp. A cry followed; he reeled, staggered, clutched at the table and held on, staring with injected eyes, gasping with open mouth; as I looked there came, I thought, a change--he seemed to swell--his face became suddenly black and the features seemed to melt and alter--and the next moment, I had sprung to my feet and leaped back against the wall, my arm raised to shield me...[and] my mind submerged in terror."

Finally, the cover of this particular book is interesting. It shows the shadow of a man in a top hat behind a window shade. This can be taken to represent Hyde who is a shadowy character.

In conclusion, this particular book has it all: an introduction by a late, well-known author, an intriguing mystery/horror story by a late, famous nineteenth century author, and an afterword by a gifted, modern writer. Be sure to read this book to learn the true story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!!!

+++++

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl & Mr. Hyde, March 13, 2010

By 

Kenneth Neward - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Kindle Edition)

We all know the term "Jekyl & Hyde" but I suspect many, like me, have never actually read the story. It was a surprising pleasure and I was able to try out the dictionary function on my Kindle several times (words no longer used in modern day writing).

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat Faded With Time But Still Incredibly Influential, July 13, 2006

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Signet Classics) (Paperback)

Published in 1886, THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE was an instant sensation and had a tremendous impact on later generations; it would not be an exaggeration to say that there have been hundreds of stage and film productions drawn either directly or indirectly from the original Robert Louis Stevenson story. Readers who come to the story from these adaptations, however, will very likely be surprised: few of them do more than borrow Stevenson's central concept.

Unlike the numerous stage and film adaptations, Dr. Jekyll is not a young or remarkably handsome man, nor the book does not contain any of the romantic subplots to which its adaptations are prone. At approximately one hundred pages, the story is very direct and extremely well suited to Stevenson's very precise style, which is very clean yet extremely evocative and very readable.

That said, modern readers are unlikely to be shocked by the book. For one thing, the story is too well known; for another, it contains very little of the graphic horror typical of current horror stories. But more than anything else, DR. JEKYLL is very distinctly a novel that draws from the Victorian era, and much of its impact was due to that society's remarkable hypocrisy; it was a world in which appearances were everything and a double life "acceptable" as long as you were not caught at it.

The same concept arises in two other novels from the same era, Bram Stoker's DRACULA and Oscar Wilde's THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, albeit in distinctly different forms. But whereas the Stoker and Wilde novels transcend their era, Stevenson's tale does not, and with the passing of Victorian attitudes the work has lost a great deal of its power to shock. Even so, Stevenson does touch a nerve with his chemically-induced transformation; then as now, drug abuse was a scourge, and in addition to this the work is somewhat similar to Mary Shelly's FRANKENSTEIN in the sense that it anticipates a host of ethical concerns that have become more and more pressing with the passage of time.

Although it has not held up as well as the other titles named, DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE is nonetheless unavoidable for any one who has an interest in gothic or horror literature because it had--and continues to have--such a tremendous influence on later works. Stevenson's prose is elegant, it is "an easy read," and I think most contemporary readers will enjoy it if they make the effort to see it within the context of its era.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer