A Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer, Robert Louis Stevenson was born
at 8 Howard Place, Edinburgh, Scotland, on 13 November 1850. It has been more than
100 years since his death. Stevenson was a writer who caused conflicting opinions
about his works. On one hand, he was often highly praised for his expert prose and
style by many English-language critics. On the other hand, others criticised the religious
themes in his works, often misunderstanding Stevenson’s own religious beliefs. Since
his death a century before, critics and biographers have disagreed on the legacy of
Stevenson’s writing. Two biographers, KF and CP , wrote a biography about Stevenson
with a clear focus. They chose not to criticise aspects of Stevenson’s personal life.
Instead, they focused on his writing, and gave high praise to his writing style and skill.
The literary pendulum has swung these days. Different critics have different opinions
towards Robert Louis Stevenson’s works. Though today, Stevenson is one of the most
translated authors in the world, his works have sustained a wide variety of negative
criticism throughout his life. It was like a complete reversal of polarity—from highly
positive to slightly less positive to clearly negative; after being highly praised as a great
writer, he became an example of an author with corrupt ethics and lack of moral. Many
literary critics passed his works off as children’s stories or horror stories, and thought to
have little social value in an educational setting. Stevenson’s works were often excluded
from literature curriculum because of its controversial nature. These debates remain,
and many critics still assert that despite his skill, his literary works still lack moral value.
One of the main reasons why Stevenson’s literary works attracted so much criticism
was due to the genre of his writing. Stevenson mainly wrote adventure stories, which
was part of a popular and entertaining writing fad at the time. Many of us believe
adventure stories are exciting, offers engaging characters, action, and mystery but
ultimately can’t teach moral principles. The plot points are one-dimensional and rarely
offer a deeper moral meaning, instead focusing on exciting and shocking plot twists and
thrilling events. His works were even criticised by fellow authors. Though Stevenson’s
works have deeply influenced Oscar Wilde, Wilde often joked that Stevenson would
have written better works if he wasn’t born in Scotland. Other authors came to
Stevenson’s defence, including Galsworthy who claimed that Stevenson is a greater
writer than Thomas Hardy.
Despite Wilde’s criticism, Stevenson’s Scottish identity was an integral part of his written
works. Although Stevenson’s works were not popular in Scotland when he was alive,
many modern Scottish literary critics claim that Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis
Stevenson are the most influential writers in the history of Scotland. While many critics
exalt Sir Walter Scott as a literary genius because of his technical ability, others argue
that Stevenson deserves the same recognition for his natural ability to capture stories
and characters in words. Many of Scott’s works were taken more seriously as literature
for their depth due to their tragic themes, but fans of Stevenson praise his unique style
of story-telling and capture of human nature. Stevenson’s works, unlike other British
authors, captured the unique day to day life of average Scottish people. Many literary
critics point to this as a flaw of his works. According to the critics, truly important
literature should transcend local culture and stories. However, many critics praise the
local taste of his literature. To this day, Stevenson’s works provide valuable insight to life
in Scotland during the 19th century.
