Stevenson's Scotland - Softcover

Stevenson, Robert Louis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1841830569 ISBN 13: 9781841830568

Publisher: Mercat Press, 2003

Synopsis

Robert Louis Stevenson travelled the world from Silverado to Samoa, where he died aged only 44. Wherever he went his love of his native land stayed with him, and he dreamed of resting from his travels at last in a Scottish churchyard. Stevenson knew Scotland intimately, and he described it all, from rugged offshore lighthouses and bleak Highland moors to his beloved Pentlands and teeming Edinburgh streets. For the first time, the best of these writings are collected in a haunting and unforgettable anthology, which includes previously unpublished material.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Louis Stevenson was an atheist and free spirit. In Samoa – where he died – he fought in a civil war for independence. In 1886, the blockbuster novel Kidnapped was published – a dramatic adventure of abduction and life on the run in the wilds of Scotland. Stevenson died in 1894, just 44 years old. The Samoan natives, who were devoted to Stevenson, cut a track through the jungle to create a resting place for him on top of the mountain above his beloved Vailima estate.

From the Inside Flap

'Ah! What would I not give to steal this evening with you through the big, echoing, college archway, and away south under the street lamps, and away to dear Brash s, now defunct! O for ten Edinburgh minutes-sixpence between us, and the ever-glorious Lothian Road, or dear mysterious Leith Walk!'

Robert Louis Stevenson travelled the world from Silverado to Samoa, where he died aged only 44. Wherever he went his love of his native land stayed with him, and he dreamed of resting from his travels at last in a Scottish churchyard. Some of his best writing is about Scotland, and he described it with warmth and intensity, from rugged offshore-lighthouses and bleak Highland moors to his beloved Pentlands and teeming Edinburgh streets.
For the first time, the best of his writings about Scotland, in prose and verse, including the entire text of Edinburgh Picturesque Notes, extracts from his letters, and two previously unpublished items, are collected in one entertaining and evocative anthology. His words are presented in the form of a journey, starting in Edinburgh, crossing over the Forth to Fife, then heading via Kirriemuir, Pitlochry and Blair Atholl as far as the Orkney Islands and Shetland. From here the route returns through the Highlands to the west coast, Oban and the Islands; down to Dumfries and Galloway, cutting across Border country and back again, inevitably, to Edinburgh and home. The editors, Tom, Hubbard and Duncan Glen, set the selection in context with an informative introduction and a generous helping of notes. The reader is taken on a magical tour and sees the familiar land of Scotland through a poet s fresh and penetrating eye.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mercat Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1841830569
• ISBN 13: 9781841830568
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176
• Editor: Hubbard Tom, Glen Duncan