Myself and the Other Fellow: A Life of Robert Lewis Stevenson - Claire Harman

The life of Robert Louis Stevenson is a gripping adventurous story: his travels, his illness, his struggles to become a writer, his relationships with his volatile American wife and stepfamily, and his friendships and quarrels. He thrilled readers the world over with breathtaking tales of pirates ( Treasure Island ) and monsters ( The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ). But the short life of writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94) was as adventurous as almost anything in his fiction. He was both engineer and aesthete, Covenanter and atheist, dutiful son and reckless lover. His travels, illnesses, creative struggles, volatile relationships, and titanic quarrels were the stuff of legend. Until now, no biography has done justice to the complex, brilliant, and troubled man who was responsible for so many remarkable literary creations, the least Victorian of Victorian writers. Claire Harman's Myself & the Other Fellow is a fascinating portrait of a man of humor, resilience, and strongly unconventional views, the most authoritative, comprehensive, and perceptive biography of Robert Louis Stevenson to date.