Myself and the Other Fellow: A Life of Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson is one of my favorite literary figures. Among many, however, he is not fashionable (for example, the first seven editions of "The Norton Anthology of English Literature" ignored him altogether). But there are at least a few others who feel as I do. RLS was revered by Henry James, Graham Greene, Vladimir Nabokov, and Jorge Luis Borges. Borges even wrote, "If you don't like Stevenson, there must be something wrong with you," and in his large, carefully tended private library, he kept his Stevenson books separate in a special place of honor."Tusi Tala" was the name given RLS by the natives when he settled on Samoa, where he lived the last four years of his life. It means "teller of tales", and it is doubly fitting. For not only was RLS one of the best tale-tellers in world literature since Scheherazade, he authored the first fiction published in the Samoan language (a local missionary translated "The Bottle Imp", a moral fable set in Hawaii, and published it in his church magazine).I actually would have preferred "Tusi Tala" as the title of this biography over MYSELF & THE OTHER FELLOW. That phrase comes from a Stevenson letter in which he referred to the occasional experience, usually as an invalid with a high fever, when he was aware of having "two consciousnesses" - one irrational and absurd, the other being his "right mind." And, of course, in "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", RLS wrote the classic work of the double personality, one respectable and conventional, the other debauched and sinister.In any event, in MYSELF & THE OTHER FELLOW Claire Harman gives us a thorough and very good biography of RLS. Harman is a Stevenson scholar (she has edited collections of his essays, poems, and stories). One of the strengths of her biography is that she goes beyond the papers of RLS to the letters and papers of his contemporaries - people like Henry James, Edmund Gosse, and G. K. Chesterton - for their anecdotes and impressions of RLS.One of the fascinating tidbits she uncovers concerns the novelist John Galsworthy, who in 1892 set sail from England to pay tribute to RLS (who did not even know Galsworthy). But Galsworthy could get no further than Adelaide, Australia. On the clipper by which he departed from Australia, Galsworthy made friends with the first mate, who happened to be Merchant Seaman Joseph Conrad. No doubt Galsworthy explained to Conrad that he had been on a pilgrimage to visit RLS. And, to complete this little circle, Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", written just seven years later, draws heavily on Stevenson's novella "The Ebb-Tide". Plus, in Stevenson's short story, "The Merry Men", a man driven mad on an isolated Scottish isle recounts a tale ending with the cry, "the horror - the horror o' the sea!"That is an example of another strength of Harman's biography - her tracing of influences of RLS on other authors, as well as works that influenced him. On the other side of the ledger, she gives too much attention to the possibilities of sexual sensationalism, especially to the theme of homoeroticism. For what it's worth, in the end she finds no hard evidence that RLS actually had homosexual encounters, or that he was sexually intimate with his stepdaughter Belle. Overall, Harman's biography tends towards being a psychological one, consistent with her choice of title for the book.I have now read three biographies of RLS. MYSELF & THE OTHER FELLOW is the most thoroughgoing. But I don't think it is the best introduction to RLS. For that, I would recommend "Dead Man's Chest", by Nicholas Rankin, which is a little offbeat but somewhat easier to read and gives, I think, a better feel for RLS the man.

I was very pleased with the quality of the book I purchased. The book was in great condition, arrived quickly and was very reasonably priced.

Excellent book - from a happy customer David L.

When choosing a book to read this summer, I felt it would be a welcome change from the usual weighty novels I have chosen historically to select an intense nonfiction work. Perusing some recent acquisitions, I selected this book because I wished to learn more about Robert Louis Stevenson as a person. I set out to find out about the person behind the famous Treasure Island and the creator of the characters Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Claire Harman managed to craft an extremely comprehensive and dense biography of this complex man that not only tracked his life achievements and the basics of his youth, education, work experience, and so forth, but was able to delve into his family history and how it affected him. Harman makes very extensive use of primary source material, be it letters or Stevenson's own published writings. At times this is extensive almost to a fault- once or twice I wanted to see fewer quotations, supplemented by more of her writing. Apart from the occasional over-reliance on quotes, the only problem I had at first was her use of a number of different terms for RLS, in a family possessing several members with some components of his name for theirs. The biographer analyzes how this writing reflects his personality and the events of his life, and speculates as to the inspirations for several of his characters. I was particularly interested when she highlighted some parallels between his own personal thoughts, fears, and dreams, and what later ended up in some of his more famous works. She did not, however, simply spend time on his writings and letters, but was sure to dig into his personal relationships, friendships, and even loves and how they affected him. His health also becomes a key topic of discussion, and it is interesting to watch as Harman tracks RLS' health in relation to the state of his family relations and friendships. And by health, Harman does not limit herself to exploring the physical side of his condition, but also examines his emotional health and how it affected him over time with changing circumstances. She emphasizes religious views especially when discussing his conflicts with his parents, for they feared for his spiritual health in addition to his physical well-being. Of course it would have been unfair if the situations he experienced were examined only from his perspective. Harman makes sure, however, to include the points of view of those around him, the other parties involved. It is much more useful to have both sides of the story presented than to be left with only partial knowledge of the circumstances. I enjoyed the biography for the most part, however it was easy to get bogged down at times. Perhaps it is because Harman makes me want to slow down and enjoy every moment, grasp every detail of his life individually. Her attention to so many of the forces influencing him going back generations before his birth through his everyday life, however, grants those who undertake the task of reading this book a keen insight into Stevenson's personality and mind.

As described

Das Buch enthält eine Fülle an Quellen. Bekannte Bilder aus der Biographie werden erweitert und verfeinert; un- oder weniger bekannte Seiten kommen hinzu. Dies betrifft nicht nur R.L.S. selbst, sondern auch das gesamte Personenumfeld der jeweiligen Lebens- und Entwicklungsabschnitte. Auf diese Weise hilft es mir auch zu erkennen, welche seiner Werke von ich nochmals lesen sollte und welche im Original reizvoll sein könnten.