Tuesday, January 15 - Morning seminar.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Unlike Melville, RLS was already famous when he first travelled to Hawaii and the South Pacific. Treasure Island (1883) was the first of his successes, followed by Kidnapped (1888). But ill-health led him to seek refuge in the South Pacific.
Arriving with his wife Fanny in Honolulu in 1888, RLS became friends with Hawaiian royalty and wrote one of his best short stories, "The Bottle Imp", a tale we will explore in detail. It is partially set on the Kona Coast of the Big Island.
Coming to the defense of Father Damian, the leper priest of Molokai, from slander, RLS wrote his "open letter" to the people of Hawaii. which we will discuss.
RLS and Fanny continued to the South Pacific and finally settled in Samoa where he was renamed "Tusitala" -- the Teller of Tales. Here he wrote some of his best short stories. We will explore his "Isle of Voices".