(Drivebycuriosity) - There might be not many who don`t know Robert Louis Stevenson`s "Treasure Island". Unfortunately the father of this and other classics ("The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", "Kidnapped" ) couldn´t enjoy his fame very long. He suffered all his short life severe health issues. Therefore he left chilly & rainy England and settled in the tropical South Sea, where he stayed to the end of his live (1850-1894).
The "South Sea Tales" are set on Samoa and similar islands (amazon ). They follow some Englishmen, who like the author, emigrate to the tropical Pacific. Stevenson had apparently not a good opinion of his fellow countrymen. They are usually pathetic losers. I don´t like the characters in these tales, nor their chatty dialogues, that fill most of the book.
But I enjoyed Stevenson´s sporadic descriptions of the lush tropical fauna and the beaches. According to him the population of Samoa and similar islands behaves very relaxed and lives from fruit that is falling from the plentyful breadfruit trees.
There is one story I love: "The bottle imp" - a funny and clever fairy tale based on logic and Arabian folklore. But the rest of the tales did not age too well, sorry to say that.
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