My most favored author during my formative years was Robert Lewis (later: "Louis") Balfour Stevenson - born in Edinburgh on 13 November 1850. I well remember the thrill of beginning new imaginary adventures through his writings - examples being Treasure Island (1883 ), Kidnapped (1886), The Master of Ballantrae (1889), A Child's Garden of Verses (1885) and many more and his tales continued to follow me into adulthood with the thrill of the read being no less. From a family holding quality lighthouse engineering backgrounds this extensive creativity is displayed again and again throughout all the books written by this great author. Stevenson was extraordinarily well-travelled, a lover of sailing on the seas and of finding new adventures the world over.
For those who wish to travel and experience what Stevenson experienced The Robert Louis Stevenson Website provides for that journey to be taken as you will find pages about where Stevenson visited in Scotland, the rest of the UK, France and elsewhere in Europe as well as his travels to the USA, Samoa and the South Seas. The website celebrates Robert Louis Stevenson's life and works, encouraging users to discover the many faces of the man who was not just a children's author, but also a poet, a playwright, a Gothicist, an essayist, a historian, an anthropologist, a Victorian, a Modernist and a Postmodernist, amongst other things. By detailing his diverse writing career, The Robert Louis Stevenson Website succeeds in bringing Stevenson out of the margins of literary study. It should definitely be given a Talking Hands Award.
Reviewer: R. S.
Key teaching element: Writing.
Copyright: 1986-2010