Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes
by Robert Louis Stevenson
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CONTENTS Introductory Old Town: The Lands The Parliament Close Legends Greyfriars New Town: Town and Country The Villa Quarters The Calton Hill Winter and New Year To the Pentland HillsTags
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I must have really wanted to read this book. I bought it for my Kindle prior to traveling to the UK. The while in Edinburgh, I purchased it again but in a hardcover format. Alexander McCall Smith wrote an introduction and it set the tone for the perfect perfectly. He explains how RLS is a master with word use and doesn't overdo it as other Scottish writers. I found RLS's descriptions of Edinburgh to be infused with a wonderfully realistic grasp of the city in all its glories and and infamies. It was especially fun to read this since I recently visited Edinburgh for the first time and knew of what he was dscribing.
This is a short set of sketches of Scotland's capital by one of the 19th century's most famous Scottish authors. Stevenson is not a great fan of many aspects of the city, and despairs of its weather: "Edinburgh pays cruelly for her high seat in one the vilest climates under heaven", which is "shifty and ungenial in summer", as I can readily verify from my current visit this week. Such is the consequence of this that "the delicate die early and I, as a survivor, among bleak winds and plumping rain, have been sometimes tempted to envy them their fate." A very bleak beginning, though he mellows as he goes on and paints some interesting vignettes of life in the city and descriptions of its geography and built environment. Worth a look.
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2,793+ Works 139,237 Members
Novelist, poet, and essayist Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. A sickly child, Stevenson was an invalid for part of his childhood and remained in ill health throughout his life. He began studying engineering at Edinburgh University but soon switched to law. His true inclination, however, was for writing. For several years show more after completing his studies, Stevenson traveled on the Continent, gathering ideas for his writing. His Inland Voyage (1878) and Travels with a Donkey (1878) describe some of his experiences there. A variety of essays and short stories followed, most of which were published in magazines. It was with the publication of Treasure Island in 1883, however, that Stevenson achieved wide recognition and fame. This was followed by his most successful adventure story, Kidnapped, which appeared in 1886. With stories such as Treasure Island and Kidnapped, Stevenson revived Daniel Defoe's novel of romantic adventure, adding to it psychological analysis. While these stories and others, such as David Balfour and The Master of Ballantrae (1889), are stories of adventure, they are at the same time fine studies of character. The Master of Ballantrae, in particular, is a study of evil character, and this study is taken even further in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886). In 1887 Stevenson and his wife, Fanny, went to the United States, first to the health spas of Saranac Lake, New York, and then on to the West Coast. From there they set out for the South Seas in 1889. Except for one trip to Sidney, Australia, Stevenson spent the remainder of his life on the island of Samoa with his devoted wife and stepson. While there he wrote The Wrecker (1892), Island Nights Entertainments (1893), and Catriona (1893), a sequel to Kidnapped. He also worked on St. Ives and The Weir of Hermiston, which many consider to be his masterpiece. He died suddenly of apoplexy, leaving both of these works unfinished. Both were published posthumously; St. Ives was completed by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, and The Weir of Hermiston was published unfinished. Stevenson was buried on Samoa, an island he had come to love very much. Although Stevenson's novels are perhaps more accomplished, his short stories are also vivid and memorable. All show his power of invention, his command of the macabre and the eerie, and the psychological depth of his characterization. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes
- Important places
- Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
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- 142
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- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (4.05)
- Languages
- English, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 32
- ASINs
- 11
