• ISBN13: 9780300062144
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: English Literature
• Publisher: Yale UP
• Publisher Imprint: Yale UP
• Publication Date: April 19, 1995
• Pages: 456
• Original Price: USD 95.00
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 853 grams

About the Book The publication of Volumes VII and VIII completes this major edition of the letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, an edition comprising 2,800 letters, almost two-thirds of which have never been in print before.

These volumes contain some 560 letters that provide a vivid picture of the last four years of Stevenson's life, from 1890 to 1894. Stevenson spent these years in Samoa, where he had gone to improve his health. We learn a great deal about Stevenson's exile in Samoa: the early pioneering days during the establishment of the Vailima Plantation; his life as the head of a large household composed of his wife, Fanny, her two children, his mother, native house servants, and estate workers; his hospitality to native Samoan chiefs and to many white visitors; his passionate involvement in local politics; and his literary work--including David Balfour , the sequel to Kidnapped , and Weir of Hermiston , a masterpiece that he died before completing.

Ernest Mehew's detailed annotation elucidates the complications of the Samoan background and provides all the information necessary to enjoy Stevenson's letters to the full.