I think we recognise in this play the biography as drama, RL Stevenson here the protagonist.
Stevenson was indeed a very interesting character (Footsteps, by Richard Holmes, is a fascinating read about him), but what of the drama? We on this board are usually a bit sceptical of this kind of subject matter since it normally seems to be a sort of exploitation of the genre in order to impart information. Forrest made the adaptation of Parade's End, but I can't think of any original plays by him.
Robert Forrest writes,
"Famously Stevenson created no convincing or complex women in his fiction until late in his life, with (to a degree) Catriona and (wonderfully) the two Kirsties in Weir of Hermiston. But the Stevenson who is revealed in his letters and essays is altogether different; his understanding of women, his liking, respect and admiration for them, are very striking. There was a story that he developed an intense love for an older Highland woman (he later was indeed drawn to women older than himself), but that youthful affair has been dismissed as mere legend. But what if this mysterious woman is his own invention, his inner muse, a dream figure he conjures up and is then haunted by? There are shades of Jekyll here - he creates this woman and then can't be rid of her. Is she the haunting figure of his muse?"
Stevenson was indeed a very interesting character (Footsteps, by Richard Holmes, is a fascinating read about him), but what of the drama? We on this board are usually a bit sceptical of this kind of subject matter since it normally seems to be a sort of exploitation of the genre in order to impart information. Forrest made the adaptation of Parade's End, but I can't think of any original plays by him.
Robert Forrest writes,
"Famously Stevenson created no convincing or complex women in his fiction until late in his life, with (to a degree) Catriona and (wonderfully) the two Kirsties in Weir of Hermiston. But the Stevenson who is revealed in his letters and essays is altogether different; his understanding of women, his liking, respect and admiration for them, are very striking. There was a story that he developed an intense love for an older Highland woman (he later was indeed drawn to women older than himself), but that youthful affair has been dismissed as mere legend. But what if this mysterious woman is his own invention, his inner muse, a dream figure he conjures up and is then haunted by? There are shades of Jekyll here - he creates this woman and then can't be rid of her. Is she the haunting figure of his muse?"
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