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Robert Louis Stevenson originally wrote "Dr. Jekyll And Mr Hyde" as a " chilling shocker." He then burned the draft and, upon his wife's advice, rewrote it as the darkly complex tale it is today. Stark, skillfully woven, this fascinating novel explores the curious turnings of human character through the strange case of Dr. Jekyll, a kindly scientist who by night takes on his stunted evil self, Mr. Hyde. Anticipating modern psychology, "Jekyll And Hyde" is a brilliantly original study of man's dual nature -- as well as an immortal tale of suspense and terror. Published in 1866, "Jekyll And Hyde" was an instant success and brought Stevenson his first taste of fame. Though sometimes dismissed as a mere mystery story, the book has evoked much literary admirations. Vladimir Nabokov likened it to "Madame Bovary" and "Dead Souls" as " a fable that lies nearer to poetry than to ordinary prose fiction." "From the Paperback edition."… (more)
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Jekyll & Hyde is, of course, a great story. Dark Gothic tale, moral
As for The Merry Men. Well, the (incredibly short & sparse and rather pointless) introduction to this collection claims that the stories are of "varying quality. The title story has real merit, but Will o'the Mill and The Treasure of Franchard reveal themselves as early works, written before Stevenson had mastered the short story form." And Thrawn Janet "is a masterpiece. There is a feeling of stark terror in it that is matched only by [...] Sheridan Le Fanu." Unfortunately there is no one named as having written this, so there is no one I can direct my anger at for their pretentious lunacy. Because clearly they haven't the slightest clue what they are talking about.
The Merry Men started out decent enough, but the last third of it turned rather odd and I didn't think much of the ending. Also, two of the characters speak in Scottish brogue and are quite a chore to try and make out, and I missed a good deal of the text for lack of understanding the words.
Will o' the Mill, contrary to dear old Intro Writer, was quite interesting and enjoyable. You really didn't know where it was going or how it would get there, but it was a rather good place to be when it did.
Markheim was short and to the point, a tale of guilt and conscience.
Thrawn Janet, again quite contrary to dear old Intro Writer, was miserable. Written entirely in Scottish brogue (except for the first (of nine) page, which is an introductory bit to what the story is about to tell, and really has nothing to do with anything; so the only legible part of the story is pointless), it is unreadable, racist, and just plain stupid, from what I could make out, that is. And the end was absurd. Seriously I am quite aghast that anyone would dare call such a travesty a "masterpiece." They need their head examined!
Olalla I had read just a short bit ago in the Oxford Gothic collection, so I skipped rereading it here. But it was one of my favorite stories in that collection. The atmosphere is perfect, and is drawn out to that perfect suspenseful point, where things are a bit off but nothing is really wrong yet and you're just aching to know what in the world is going to happen! Very nice.
And last, The Treasure of Franchard, where again, the intro could not be more wrong. Along with Olalla, this was my favorite of the Merry Men stories. It had depth, and though the main character makes you want to throttle him, it was a great story with a fabulous end, and the perfect end to the book.
I liked this, having taken to reading a lot more old classics recently than I have before. The book was fairly easy to read once I got into it - in fact, I felt it read a lot like The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) in style. Slightly
It was written to begin with from the point of view of one character, Mr Utterson, but towards the end in the form of written documentation from Dr Jekyll and one other character, which lead to an interesting way of concluding the story. It was probably easiest and most concise to explain things from Jekyll's point of view!
I wasn't sure what kind of character Dr Jekyll was to begin with, knowing only the very bare bones of the story beforehand. I find that with classic stories such as Dracula (Bram Stoker), or The Phantom of the Opera (Gaston Leroux), I know roughly what the story is but there are so many variations out there that I don't really know how the original goes. So with this book, I didn't know if Jekyll was written sympathetically or otherwise. As it turned out, by the end of the book, I found him to be a not overly redeeming character in his own right, independant of Hyde. I was sympathetic to him to begin with but after reading his explaination of things, it seemed to me that his motivations were more or less selfish to begin with. I still had some sympathy for his fate, but not that much.
In all, it was an enjoyable book, quite short (more of a short story really) and would be a recommendation for anyone who likes a bit of a mystery and a classic style and setting. If you liked Sherlock Holmes, you'll like this - very similar.