Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, November 13, 1850 to Margaret and Thomas Stevenson. With the goal of following his father in the family business of Lighthouse design, Stevenson went to University to study engineering. With his interest not being peaked he then wen tin to law and his love for adventure began to blossom. He traveled to France and was surrounded by young artists including writers and painters. From this, he gained the realization that writing was his true calling but he did finish law school in 1875. By 1878, he started publishing his volume of work, some include "An Inland Voyage"and "Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes" which is a continuation of the first story. Stevenson's stories helped introduce the United Kingdom to the world of short story, which was dominated by Russians, Americans and the French. He not only wrote fiction but non fiction along his travels and throughout his life. His pieces became stronger and helped solidify his fame after he was writing more mature works after traveling to the islands with his family and settling there. His imagination was stimulated and his work was depicted by the life he lived in the Pacific isles, for example, "Island Nights' Entertainments"(1893). Robert died of a stroke on December 3, 1984 in his home in Samoa and was buried at the top of Mount Vaea, overlooking the sea.
His famous piece that was an immediate success and helped cement his reputation was "Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde". This is one of my favorites it combines the works of horror and Romantic stories. The persona changing potion, murders, and final suicide represents the horror while science vs nature theme comes into play as well. The story is about a man who transforms between two people, Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde but John Utterson, a lawyer and friend of Jekyll becomes curious as to why strange things keep going on and why Mr. Hyde is so cruel to blackmail Dr. Jekyll.
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