Dreams of Exile
Published by Henry Holt and Co.
The renowned nineteenth-century author of Treasure Island gets his due in “an admirable biography, full of intelligence and scruple . . . beautifully written” (The Independent).
Many biographies have been written of Robert Louis Stevenson, portraying different versions of the famous author—from the Bohemian dandy outraging Victorian Edinburgh to a writer of stories beloved by children and familiar from numerous film and television dramas. In this acclaimed biography, Ian Bell attempts to see Robert Louis Stevenson whole, to trace the line of descent form the son of Calvinist engineers to the man who ended his days as Tusitala among the Samoan islanders. Understanding that for Stevenson geography mattered, Bell sets out to discover the complete man through the places he lived and the people he lived among as well as through the books that poured from him during his all-too-short literary life. As such, Dreams of Exile is both literary biography and travel narrative. It follows Stevenson’s development as an artist and as a man by following his often chaotic progress from continent to continent, in good health and in bad, in poverty and in wealth. Along the way, it reveals his often tortured relations with his family, his robust sexuality, and the mystery of his stormy marriage to a woman many years his senior.
But perhaps Bell’s most important contribution is to rescue R.L.S. from the many conflicting and often romanticized images that have continued to surround him, and in the process to make a telling case for Stevenson’s genius as a writer.
“A biography as readable as a romance . . . [A] very level-headed and well-written book.” —London Review of Books
Many biographies have been written of Robert Louis Stevenson, portraying different versions of the famous author—from the Bohemian dandy outraging Victorian Edinburgh to a writer of stories beloved by children and familiar from numerous film and television dramas. In this acclaimed biography, Ian Bell attempts to see Robert Louis Stevenson whole, to trace the line of descent form the son of Calvinist engineers to the man who ended his days as Tusitala among the Samoan islanders. Understanding that for Stevenson geography mattered, Bell sets out to discover the complete man through the places he lived and the people he lived among as well as through the books that poured from him during his all-too-short literary life. As such, Dreams of Exile is both literary biography and travel narrative. It follows Stevenson’s development as an artist and as a man by following his often chaotic progress from continent to continent, in good health and in bad, in poverty and in wealth. Along the way, it reveals his often tortured relations with his family, his robust sexuality, and the mystery of his stormy marriage to a woman many years his senior.
But perhaps Bell’s most important contribution is to rescue R.L.S. from the many conflicting and often romanticized images that have continued to surround him, and in the process to make a telling case for Stevenson’s genius as a writer.
“A biography as readable as a romance . . . [A] very level-headed and well-written book.” —London Review of Books
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