The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales of Terror PDF
Preview The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales of Terror
THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE wasborninEdinburghin.Theson of a prosperous civil engineer, he was expected to follow the family professionbutfinallywasallowedtostudylawatEdinburghUniversity. Stevenson reacted violently against the Presbyterian respectability of the city’s professional classes and this led to painful clashes with his parents.Inhisearlytwentieshebecameafflictedwithasevererespira- toryillnessfromwhichhewastosufferfortherestofhislife;itwasat thistimethathedeterminedtobecomeaprofessionalwriter.In he travelled to California to marry Fanny Osbourne, an American tenyearshissenior.Togethertheycontinuedhissearchforaclimate kindtohisfragilehealth,eventuallysettlinginSamoa,wherehedied onDecember. Stevensonbeganhisliterarycareerasanessayistandtravel-writer, butthesuccessofTreasureIsland()andKidnapped()established hisreputationfortalesofactionandadventure.Kidnapped,anditssequel Catriona (), The Master of Ballantrae and stories such as ‘Thrawn Janet’and‘TheMerryMen’alsorevealhisknowledgeandfeelingfor theScottishculturalpast.Stevenson’sCalvinisticupbringinggavehim apreoccupationwithpre-destinationandafascinationwiththepres- ence of evil. In Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde he explores the darkersideofthehumanpsyche,andthecharacteroftheMasterin The Master of Ballantrae () was intended to be ‘all I know of the Devil’. During the last years of his life Stevenson’s creative range developedconsiderablyandTheBeachofFalesa´ broughttofictionthe kindofscenesnowassociatedwithConradandMaugham.Atthetime ofhisdeathRobertLouisStevensonwasworkingonWeirofHermiston, atoncearomantichistoricalnovelandanemotionalreworkingofone ofStevenson’sownmostdistressingexperiences,theconflictbetween fatherandson. completedaPh.D.onGothicfictionandVictorian medico-legalscienceattheUniversityofWales,andthenspentthree yearsasapost-doctoralfellowatMertonCollege,UniversityofOxford. InhebecametheeditorofPenguinClassics,andnowworksin Londonasaconsultant.HispublicationsincludeaneditionofOscar Wilde’s poems for Everyman Paperbacks, and a study of Victorian GothicfictionforOxfordUniversityPress().Hehasalsoedited Oscar Wilde’sThe Pictureof Dorian Grayfor PenguinClassics. He isa FellowoftheRoyalSocietyofArts. Editedby PENGUIN BOOKS Published by the Penguin Group: Penguin Books Ltd,80 Strand,London WC2R 0RL,England Penguin Putnam Inc.,375 Hudson Street,New York,New York 10014,USA Penguin Books Australia Ltd.,250 CamberwellRoad,Camberwell,Victoria3124,Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd,10 Alcorn Avenue,Toronto,Ontario,Canada M4V 3B2 Penguin Books India (P) Ltd,11 Community Centre,Panchsheel Park,New Delhi – 110 017,India Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd,Cnr Rosedale and Airborne Roads,Albany,Auckland,New Zealand Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd,24 Sturdee Avenue,Rosebank 2196,South Africa Penguin Books Ltd,Registered Offices:80 Strand,London WC2R 0RL,England This edition first published in Penguin Classics,2002 First edition electronic:2002 Introduction,‘Diagno sing Jekyll...’ and Notes copyright © Robert Mighall, 2002 All rights reserved The moral right of the editor has been asserted Making or distributing electronic copies of this book constitutes copyright infringement and could subject the infringer to civil and/or criminal liability,where applicable.No parts of this book may be reproduced by any means without prior written permission of the publisher. UK: ISBN:014188374X in MS Reader format ISBN:0141883758 in Adobe eReader format US: ISBN:0786514914 in MS Reader format ISBN:0786514922 in Adobe eReader format vi vii ix xxxix xliii StrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde TheBodySnatcher Olalla AChapteronDreams(abridged) DiagnosingJekyll:theScientificContexttoDrJekyll’s ExperimentandMrHyde’sEmbodiment ByRobertMighall ThankstotheBritishLibrary,theRadcliffeScienceLibrary,Oxford, the London Library and to Tower Hamlets Local Studies Library. Many thanks to Neil Rennie, Matthew Sweet, James Morton and SimonBradleyforhelpwithvariousqueries.ThankstoMyrnaBlum- berg,andtoLauraBarber,mywonderfuleditor. Born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson (he would later adopt theFrenchform‘Louis’)onNovember,inEdinburgh. HisfatherThomascamefromalonglineofengineers(famous in Scotland for their lighthouses), and his mother Margaret IsabellaBalfourwasfromafamilyoflawyers. MovestoHeriotRowinEdinburgh’sNewTowndistrict. Enrols at Edinburgh University to follow in the family tradi- tion and study engineering, but soon abandons this to study law. Passes ‘advocate’ and is called to the Scottish Bar, but never practises. Starts publishing in magazines, his early works are mostly travelpiecesdrawingonhisexperiencesinvariouscountries. Meets Fanny Osbourne, an American of thirty-six who was separatedfromherhusband. AnInlandVoyagepublished,anaccountofajourneybycanoe innorthernFrance. Travelswith aDonkeyin theCevennesispublished recountinghis adventuresinsouthernFrance. JoinsFannyinCalifornia,anaccountofwhichhelaterpub- lishedasTheAmateurEmigrant(). MarriesFanny. VirginiaPuerisque(essays)published. NewArabianNights,acollectionofshortstoriespublished. TheSilveradoSquatterspublished,whichrecountshishoneymoon in a Californian silver mine. Treasure Island, one of the most vii chronology famous children’s adventure stories, is also published, which startstoestablishhisreputationasawriter. Moves to Bournemouth, to a house which they re-name ‘Skerrymore’inhonourofoneofStevenson’sancestor’slight- houses.‘TheBodySnatcher’publishedatChristmas. Prince Otto and The Dynamiter published. ‘Olalla’ published at Christmas. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde published in January, originallyintendedforChristmas,butwithdrawnowing to a rather full market. First editions of this novel retain the date on the title page. This was the work that made Stevenson’sreputation.Kidnappedpublished. The Merry Men and Other Fables published. Death of Thomas Stevenson. TheStevensons’firsttriptotheSouthSeas.(TheWhitechapel MurderstakeplaceinEastLondonwhileastageversionofDr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is playing on the London stage. It is with- drawnoutofpublicdelicacy.) TheMasterofBallantraepublished.TheWrongBox,writtenwith hisstepsonLloydOsbourne,published.SettlesintheSamoan Islands. ‘TheBeachofFalsea’published. IslandNights’EntertainmentsandCatriona(thesequeltoKidnapped) published. TheEbb-Tidepublished.DiesinSamoainDecemberoftuber- culosis. TheunfinishedWeirofHermistonpublished. DeathofFannyStevenson. viii RobertLouisStevenson’sStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde()is oneofthemostfamousworksofhorrorfictionofalltime.LikeMary Shelley’sFrankenstein()andBramStoker’sDracula(),Jekylland Hyde, or at least a version of its central idea, resides in the collective consciousness. It has been the subject of many films, featured in countless sketches, cartoons and parodies, and the term ‘Jekyll-and- Hydepersonality’hasenteredourlanguage,describingsomeonewho livesadouble-lifeofoutwardsanctityandsecretiniquity.Ifthepopular press discovers that the latest serial killer, homicidal maniac or even petty fraudster did not spend all his daylight hours pursuing these activities, and occasionally acted like his neighbours, chances are it willsuggestthatXisdisplaying‘Jekyll-and-Hyde’tendencies,auseful shorthandforsensationalistreportage,andperhapsawayofmaking usscrutinizeourneighboursmoreclosely.ItistestimonytoStevenson’s inventivenessasawriterthathiscreationhasthisindependentexist- enceoverahundredyearsafterhistalewasfirstpublished.Andyet, despite this almost universal familiarity with the idea of Jekyll and Hyde,itisalsotruethatStevenson’sstoryismoreknownaboutthan actuallyknown,andthatmanyofthosewhobelievetheyknowwhat it is about, have not actually read the hundred pages that comprise the tale. They would find there something different from what they imagined:amorecomplex,rewarding anddisturbingstorythanthe versionthathasbeenhandeddowninpopularculturalform.Those who are about to read the Strange Case and the other tales collected here for the first time, would do best to return to this Introduction after they have read them, as it is necessary to reveal specific plot ix
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