The Author
Image of Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Born on November 13th in the year of 1850, Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was the only child born to two parents of the middle class in Edinburgh, Scotland. Over the course of his youth, Stevenson suffered from a variety of chronic health issues such as "fevers, coughing, and bronchial infections" which confined him to his bed ("The Life"). According to the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, Stevenson enrolled at the University of Edinburgh as a "science" student. However, after being disillusioned with the scientific field, Stevenson turned his interest and attention to "French literature, Scottish history, and the revolutionary works of Charles Darwin" ("The Life"). This love of literature, history, culture, and the natural world kickstarted Stevenson's creative genius in the literary field, which ultimately lead him down a famed path to literary success until his death in the year 1894 due to a "brain hemorrhage" ("The Life").
Over the course of his esteemed life, Stevenson wrote and published a plethora of influential manuscripts. Drawing upon the article "Works Chronology" from the website Robert Louis Stevenson, a composed a list of his most notable works include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, The Amateur Emigrant, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Catriona, The Body Snatcher, Across the Plains, A Child's Garden of Verses, and Admiral Guinea.
Kidnapped
Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped follows the main character of David Balfour on a coming-of-age journey through the Scottish Highlands. Over the course of David's enthralling journey, the main character encounters an evil uncle, a rowdy ship crew, a Scottish fugitive from the Jacobite Rebellion, and a historically documented assassination against a powerful Campbell. In Ian Duncan's introduction to Kidnapped, Duncan documents that Stevenson commenced writing Kidnapped in the month of March in the year 1885 and completed the story the following May in the year 1886 (xxvii). The story was originally released to the public in the periodical Young Folks Paper over the course of weekly installments "from 1 May through 31 July 1886" (xxvii).
Due to his love of his homeland, Stevenson often draws upon Scotland and Scottish heritage to craft his dynamic plotlines in his esteemed novel. This can easily be examined by the name of the main character, David Balfour, whose last name coincides with one of Stevenson's many middle names representing Scottish descent. Furthermore, Stevenson uses Scottish geography (such as Essendean, Queensferry, and Earraid) to act as the setting to his adventure tale. Since this novel is entrenched in Scottish history and culture, it can oftentimes be daunting to fully comprehend and pick up on the nuanced discussions and descriptions surrounding David’s political, social, and cultural position within the fallout of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion in the Scottish Highlands. Therefore, one can examine Stevenson's creative partnership with the illustrator William Boucher to better envision and understand Stevenson's culturally and historically nuanced work.