Tales and Fantasies

IT is difficult for a European to imagine Calistoga, the whole place is so new, and of such an accidental pattern; the very name, I hear, was invented at a supper-party by the man who found the springs.

Robert Louis (Balfour) Stevenson (1850-1894), was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer, and a leading representative of Neo-romanticism in English literature. He was greatly admired by many authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling and Vladimir Nabokov. Most modernist writers dismissed him, however, because he was popular and did not write within their narrow definition of literature. It is only recently that critics have begun to look beyond Stevenson's popularity and allow him a place in the Western canon. Stevenson was a celebrity in his own time, but with the rise of modern literature after World War I, he was seen for much of the 20th century as a writer of the second class, relegated to children's literature and horror genres. His works include: An Inland Voyage (1878), Familiar Studies of Men and Books (1882), New Arabian Nights (1882), Kidnapped (1886), The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables (1887), Memories and Portraits (1887), Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin (1887), The Black Arrow (1888), and Master of Ballantrae: A Winter's Tale (1889).

Biography by the author of Treasure Island. According to Wikipedia: "Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin (25 March 1833 - 12 June 1885) was Professor of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, remarkable for his versatility. Known to the world as the inventor of telpherage, he was an electrician and cable engineer, a lecturer, linguist, critic, actor, dramatist and artist."

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. His most famous works are Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. A literary celebrity during his lifetime, Stevenson now ranks among the 26 most translated authors in the world.

This 1893 sequel to Stevenson's classic novel Kidnapped continues the adventures of David Balfour. The story begins with Balfour attempting to clear the name of his friend James Stewart of murder charges, when he is kidnapped yet again. Brimming with action, intrigue, adventure, and romance, Catriona is a classic novel in its own right.

Robert Louis Stevenson gives an eyewitness account of the battle of three Western nations (Britain, the United States, and Germany) for control of Samoa. Not only is this a fine analysis of late-nineteenth-century colonialism, it is also a rollicking good yarn in the best Stevenson tradition.