Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE father OF DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94) was
a restless character. Born in Edinburgh,
he found the place unsuitable for his
frail constitution. This, combined with
his wanderlust, meant that he spent
much of his life traveling and living out-
side his native Scotland. The author has
been alternately hailed as Scotland's
greatest writer and dismissed as nothing
more than the creator of tall tales for
children, though surely the former is
more accurate.
He was the son of Margaret and
Thomas Stevenson, born into a family
famed for its civil engineering projects,
especially lighthouses. R.L.S. was a sickly
toddler and something of a disappoint-
ment to his father as a youth. After he
was allowed to bow out of engineering
and the lucrative family business, Robert
attended law school. Thomas vowed that
“the devious and barren paths of litera-
ture” were not suitable for his heir. R.L.S.,
undaunted, became a writer and a bit of
a rogue. One of his favorite bars still
stands today: Rutherford's on Drum-
mond Street near South Bridge.
Determined to roam (“I shall be a
nomad”) and write, he went to France
where he met and later married an
American, Fanny Osborne, with whom
he traveled to California. Following the
success of The Sea-Cook (1881), which
became the ever-popular Treasure
Island, Stevenson produced The Strange
Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, an
instant best-seller. That was quickly fol-
lowed by the classic Kidnapped (1886),
recounting the troubled political times
in Scotland after the failed 1745 rebellion
of Bonnie Prince Charlie. The topic's
16-year-old hero is snatched and finds
himself on an adventure across the
Western Highlands and Islands.
Eventually R.L.S. and Fanny settled in
Samoa, hoping to find a climate that
would suit his scarred lungs. While here,
Stevenson worked on the unfinished
classic, Weir of Hermiston (published
posthumously in 1896). On December 3,
1894, at only 43 years old, he collapsed
and died.
8
National Library of Scotland The country's central library hosts a year full of
readings, activities, and exhibitions, such as one on the story of news, retracing its
history from hand-printed single sheet circulars to the advent of the Internet. Each
and every book published in the U.K. and Ireland is on the shelves here. Just don't
expect to be able to check one out.
George IV Bridge. &   0131/623-3700. www.nls.uk. Exhibitions Mon-Fri 10am-8pm; Sat 10am-5pm;
Sun 2-5pm. Bus: 2, 23, 27, 41, 42, or 45.
Our Dynamic Earth Under a futuristic tent-like canopy near the new Scottish
Parliament, Our Dynamic Earth celebrates the evolution and diversity of the planet,
with emphasis on the seismological and biological processes that led from the Big
Bang to the world we know today. There is the slimy green primordial soup where
life began and a series of specialized aquariums, some with replicas of early life
forms, and a simulated tropical rainforest where skies darken at 15-minute intervals,
there are torrents of rainfall, and creepy-crawlies underfoot. On the premises, there
is a restaurant, cafe, children's play area, and gift shop. Last entry is 1 hour and 10
minutes before closing.
 
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