Word: stevensons
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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...Stevenson is spoken of as perpetually gay in the midst of physical agony, financial reverses, artistic disappointment. It is true that he was of a buoyant nature?a genial bubble riding stormy seas. But he was subject to fits of overwhelming depression. "Oh Medea, kill me or make me young again!" he cries...
...famous quarrel with Henley, his early friend and supporter, Mr. Steuart treats at length. It was not, as generally supposed, a sudden thing, but the result of a succession of minor episodes. And it was, it appears, largely the fault of Stevenson, whose hot rage would never forgive a fancied disloyalty. Henley himself never harbored resentment, in spite of his disparaging criticism of his former friend, often regarded as evidence of a vengeful nature...
...Stevenson's love of pose, his affectations, his theatric sense Mr. Steuart sees again in his last days in Samoa, as a sort of white chief, a lord of the manor among the admiring natives. "A bouncing egotist who loves the limelight as a beachcomber loves rum," said his neighbors...
...observed without prejudice. And for the first time the facts appear at last to be accessible about this strange, heroic figure. Mr. Steuart does not slur over his defects. He sets down the facts accurately but sympathetically, substitutes for the idol a man. His estimate of Stevenson's work is careful and just. He sees him as a writer not of the first rank?a master of the English language, doing perfectly things of secondary significance. But whatever his merits as an artist, as a man he stands among the heroes...
...ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON ? A CRITICAL BIOGRAPHY?John H. Steuart?Little, Brown...