New Arabian Nights

I recall being infuriated by these stories, and the insufferable Prince Florizel, the last time I read them. But after reading a bit of Stevenson lately I gave it another go. Still intensely aggravating!

George Sampson, who introduced this undated edition of Stevenson's stories, was careful to draw attention to what he saw as their faults of construction; but for all that, they are attractive and interesting to read more than a century after they were written. Conan Doyle and Chesterton may well have learned from Stevenson's storytelling technique - the master criminal and his opponent still have the power to draw us into the fast-moving events. Of the other stories, "The Sieur de Maletroit's Door" with its vivid evocation of a medieval past in which well-born women were, in theory at least, completely at the disposal of their male guardians, retains its power to involve the reader.

RLS wrote some very good stories and some very bad ones; those included in this collection are generally somewhere in between. Fairly good to kill time, not worth reading twice.

A collection of short stories written by Stevenson before he became famous, published in various magazines in the late 1870s, includes his first published fiction. Composed of two "books", the first book is a series of nested inter-related stories of diverse topics - thus the allusion to the "Arabian Knights" whose stories were also nested (other than that no connection). These stories are sometimes called the first modern English short stories, and the "nesting" technique was very cutting edge. The Suicide Club was made into a movie called "The Game of Death".

Early collection of short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson. Some are ok, some were boring.There is The Suicide Club - with 3 stories, The Rajah's Diamond, -with 4 stories, The Pavilion on the Links, Two short stories in a French medieval atmosphere , and The Providence and the Guitar.

The Franklin Library, Pennsylvania, 1979. Hardcover. Book Condition: A near fine copy. Limited edition. Very light shelf wear to bottom edge, otherwise fine. Bound in full leatherette with gilted edges, lettering, decoration, and silk moire endpapers. Includes a loose booklet of the editor's notes.

En spännande och, för mig, oväntad sida av Stevensons författarskap. Något ojämn kvalitet på novellerna - den första volymen är klart bättre - men överlag klart läsvärda. Stevenson har en sällsynt förmåga att bygga upp stämning och förväntan med sitt öga för detaljer och genom att antyda om händelser precis utom hör- och synhåll.

Isfelts översättning är klar och flödande, men det biografiska efterordet är tyvärr alltför pladdrigt och ofokuserat.