The quintessential adventure story that first established pirates in the popular imagination, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island is edited with an introduction by John Seelye in Penguin Classics.
During a holiday in his native Scotland, a tubercular and struggling writer and his step-son devised a map that led to imaginary treasure — and enduring literature. Treasure Island, Stevenson's first full-length work of fiction, immediately secured his fame and, unlike sundry other "entertainments" of the period, continues to captivate readers of all ages.
The tale is told by an adventurous boy, Jim Hawkins, who spirits a treasure map away from the clutches of the menacing Blind Pew. Like his American soulmate Tom Sawyer, young Jim repeatedly disobeys the orders of his adult companions — and by so doing always saves the day. Enlisting the help of Dr. Livesey and Squire Trelawney, Jim sets off in a hired ship in search of Captain Flint's buried treasure. Among the crew, however, is the treacherous Long John Silver, one of the great originals in English literature, who wants the treasure all to himself. This edition includes Stevenson's own essay about the composition of Treasure Island, written just before his death, and an intriguing Introduction by John Seelye that illuminates the reasons for the novel's continuing hold on the imagination.
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Summary
The quintessential adventure story that first established pirates in the popular imagination, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island is edited with an introduction by John Seelye in Penguin Classics.
During a holiday in his native Scotland, a tubercular and struggling writer and his step-son devised a map that led to imaginary treasure — and enduring literature. Treasure Island, Stevenson's first full-length work of fiction, immediately secured his fame and, unlike sundry other "entertainments" of the period, continues to captivate readers of all ages.
The tale is told by an adventurous boy, Jim Hawkins, who spirits a treasure map away from the clutches of the menacing Blind Pew. Like his American soulmate Tom Sawyer, young Jim repeatedly disobeys the orders of his adult companions — and by so doing always saves the day. Enlisting the help of Dr. Livesey and Squire Trelawney, Jim sets off in a hired ship in search of Captain Flint's buried treasure. Among the crew, however, is the treacherous Long John Silver, one of the great originals in English literature, who wants the treasure all to himself. This edition includes Stevenson's own essay about the composition of Treasure Island, written just before his death, and an intriguing Introduction by John Seelye that illuminates the reasons for the novel's continuing hold on the imagination.
Description
When a mysterious sailor dies in sinister circumstances at the Admiral Benbow inn, young Jim Hawkins stumbles across a treasure map among the dead man's possessions. But Jim soon becomes only too aware that he is not the only one who knows of the map's existence, and his bravery and cunning are tested to the full when, with his friends Squire Trelawney and Dr Livesey, he sets sail in the Hispaniola to track down the treasure. With its swift-moving plot and memorably drawn characters - Blind Pew and Black Dog, the castaway Ben Gunn and the charming but dangerous Long John Silver - Stevenson's tale of pirates, treachery and heroism was an immediate success when it was first published in 1883 and has retained its place as one of the greatest of all adventure stories.
In his introduction John Seelye examines Stevenson's life and influences and the novel's place within adventure fiction. This edition also includes Stevenson's essay on the composition of Treasure Island. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was born in Edinburgh, the son of a prosperous civil engineer. Although he began his career as an essayist and travel writer, the success of Treasure Island (1883) and Kidnapped (1886) established his reputation as a writer of tales of action and adventure. Stevenson's Calvinist upbringing lent him a preoccupation with predestination and a fascination with the presence of evil, themes he explored in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), and The Master of Ballantrae (1893).
If you enjoyed Treasure Island, you might like Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, also available in Penguin Classics.
Awards
Runner-up for The BBC Big Read Top 100 2003
Short-listed for BBC Big Read Top 100 2003
Critic Reviews
“"Over Treasure Island I let my fire die in winter without knowing I was freezing."”
About the Author
Robert Louis Stevenson (Author) Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1850. Chronically ill with bronchitis and possibly tuberculosis, Stevenson withdrew from Engineering at Edinburgh University in favour of Studying Law. Although he passed the bar and became an advocate in 1875, he knew that his true work was as a writer.
Between 1876 and his death in 1894, Stevenson wrote prolifically. His published essays, short stories, fiction, travel books, plays, letters and poetry number in dozens. The most famous of his works include Travels With A Donkey in the Cevennes (1879), New Arabian Nights (1882), Treasure Island (1883), The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1887), Thrawn Janet (1887) and Kidnapped (1893).
After marrying Fanny Osbourne in 1880 Stevenson continued to travel and to write about his experiences. His poor health led him and his family to Valima in Samoa, where they settled. During his days there Stevenson was known as 'Tusitala' or 'The Story Teller'. His love of telling romantic and adventure stories allowed him to connect easily with the universal child in all of us. 'Fiction is to grown men what play is to the child,' he said.
Robert Louis Stevenson died in Valima in 1894 of a brain haemorrhage.
Back Cover
"One more step, Mr. Hands, and I'll blow your brains out! Dead men don't bite, you know." Originally conceived as a story for boys, Stevenson's novel is narrated by the teenage Jim Hawkins, who outwits a gang of murderous pirates led by that unforgettable avatar of amorality, Long John Silver. Admired by Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, and (reluctantly) Henry James, the story has the dreamlike quality of a fairy tale. It has worked its way into the collective imagination of more than five generations of readers, young and old alike, gaining the power of myth. Although thoroughly British in its setting and characters, Treasure Island, as John Seelye shows, has an American dimension, drawing on the author's experiences living in California, and owes no small debt to Washington Irving's ghost stories and James Fenimore Cooper's tales of adventure. This edition also includes Stevenson's own essay about the composition of Treasure Island, written just before his death.
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