‘Louis Becke’s Modern Buccaneer: The transformation of William “Bully” Hayes into the first modern literary pirate of the Pacific’

During his career, Louis Becke, the most internationally well-known Australian writer of the South Pacific region at the turn of the nineteenth century, wrote a series of novellas, stories, and articles that featured the infamous conman and thief, Captain William ‘Bully’ Hayes, with whom he had sailed through the Pacific Islands for a short period. Influenced by the work of Robert Louis Stevenson and earlier accounts of piracy in the Pacific, Becke’s fictionalized version of Hayes was the original archetypal South Pacific pirate character: a Long John Silver of the South Seas. Beginning with the first major work about Hayes, A Modern Buccaneer, substantially written by Becke although published under Boldrewood’s name, Becke’s re-imagined Hayes became the pervasive Pacific pirate literary trope not only throughout Becke’s books, stories, and articles but also within the work of subsequent writers.

Childishness, Primitivism and the Primitive as Child in the Anti-Imperialist Works of Robert Louis Stevenson

<p>My thesis examines the connection between childishness and primitivism in four key works by Robert Louis Stevenson: Kidnapped, "The Beach of Falesa", The Ebb-Tide and A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa. In particular, I discuss Stevenson's depiction of "primitive" peoples - the Scottish Highlanders of Kidnapped and the Pacific Islanders in the other works - as childish or childlike. While this is a trope that was typically used to justify imperial domination by "adult" Europeans (by writers such as H. Rider Haggard and Rudyard Kipling, for instance), for Stevenson the case is somewhat different because of the extent to which he valorises childishness. The "Introduction" places Stevenson's anti-imperialist deployment of the primitive-as-child trope in the context of romanticism and primitivism more generally, trends which idealised children and primitives in response to the degrading forces of industrial capitalist development in Europe. The first chapter shows how Stevenson's idealised notion of childish Highlanders in Kidnapped is used to valorise them at the expense of the sedentary and conformist "adult" world of the Lowlands. In the second chapter, I show how Stevenson similarly valorises the childish native characters in "The Beach of Falesa" and The Ebb-Tide, while at the same time he dismantles the notion that European colonisers of the Pacific possess any "adult" authority whatsoever by depicting the latter as being in the grip of infantile delusions. In these late fictional works, the idealised childishness of the natives, characterised by growth and vitality, is contrasted with European infantilism, which signifies the cultural regression and insularity that Stevenson saw as closely connected with imperial activity. My final chapter shows how these two opposed notions of childishness-as-growth and childishness-as-decay/insularity inform Stevenson's non-fiction anti-imperialist work, A Footnote to History. My thesis aims to show that Stevenson was not so constrained by imperialist cliches and rhetoric as some critics have argued; rather, I suggest that his sympathy for the victims of colonisation allowed him to dramatically undermine this rhetoric.</p>

Childishness, Primitivism and the Primitive as Child in the Anti-Imperialist Works of Robert Louis Stevenson

<p>My thesis examines the connection between childishness and primitivism in four key works by Robert Louis Stevenson: Kidnapped, "The Beach of Falesa", The Ebb-Tide and A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa. In particular, I discuss Stevenson's depiction of "primitive" peoples - the Scottish Highlanders of Kidnapped and the Pacific Islanders in the other works - as childish or childlike. While this is a trope that was typically used to justify imperial domination by "adult" Europeans (by writers such as H. Rider Haggard and Rudyard Kipling, for instance), for Stevenson the case is somewhat different because of the extent to which he valorises childishness. The "Introduction" places Stevenson's anti-imperialist deployment of the primitive-as-child trope in the context of romanticism and primitivism more generally, trends which idealised children and primitives in response to the degrading forces of industrial capitalist development in Europe. The first chapter shows how Stevenson's idealised notion of childish Highlanders in Kidnapped is used to valorise them at the expense of the sedentary and conformist "adult" world of the Lowlands. In the second chapter, I show how Stevenson similarly valorises the childish native characters in "The Beach of Falesa" and The Ebb-Tide, while at the same time he dismantles the notion that European colonisers of the Pacific possess any "adult" authority whatsoever by depicting the latter as being in the grip of infantile delusions. In these late fictional works, the idealised childishness of the natives, characterised by growth and vitality, is contrasted with European infantilism, which signifies the cultural regression and insularity that Stevenson saw as closely connected with imperial activity. My final chapter shows how these two opposed notions of childishness-as-growth and childishness-as-decay/insularity inform Stevenson's non-fiction anti-imperialist work, A Footnote to History. My thesis aims to show that Stevenson was not so constrained by imperialist cliches and rhetoric as some critics have argued; rather, I suggest that his sympathy for the victims of colonisation allowed him to dramatically undermine this rhetoric.</p>

The Theatrical R. L. S.: an Evaluation of the Theatrical Aspects of Robert Louis Stevenson

<p>Within a format of Shakespeare's seven ages of man, the seven stages of Robert Louis Stevenson are presented here as an inaugural investigation of his theatricality. The Introduction deals with this theatricality generally and is concerned, in its two parts, with the more technical elements of theatricality as they relate to the principles of dramatic theory. Stage One is a curtailed family history as a general background to his development and deals with his introduction to Mr Skelt's Toy Theatre. Consideration is also given in Section 3 to his first juvenile dramatic writing. Stage Two tells of his beginning to 'act a part' while at Edinburgh University. This stage also covers the amateur theatricals and the friendships with Fleeming Jenkin, Mrs Sitwell and Sidney Colvin. Stage Three introduces William Ernest Henley. With Stevenson he writes Deacon Brodie for Henry Irving. Stevenson courts and marries Mrs Osbourne while the playwriting goes on by correspondence. The London performance of Deacon Brodie is discussed and its American production with Edward J. Henley. Stage Four covers 1884 - the playwriting year at Bournemouth. Beau Austin and Admiral Guinea are discussed with comment and analysis offered under separate headings. The adaptation of Macaire is considered in relation to Beerbohm Tree. The Hanging Judge and the meeting with Thomas Hardy are also considered. Then follow general remarks about all the plays with special reference to Arthur Pinero's 1903 lecture on Robert Louis Stevenson as Dramatist. Stage Five is a consideration of Early Victorian theatre and its influence on the Henley-Stevenson partnership. This Stage features the final years of the two Henleys and includes a consideration of the Henley review of Balfour's official biography of Stevenson. Stage Six shows us Stevenson as the Scotch Tusitala, the Patriarch of Vailiama, reading his work aloud from the verandah. It is the final performance and in four short sections we see him rise only to die. Stage Seven is devoted entirely to adaptations of Stevensonia by other writers for all performing media to date. A comprehensive survey of R.L.S. and the drama is an area of Stevenson scholarship which has been either neglected or ill-considered. It is the intention of this study to offer a new focus to this dimension of his literary oeuvre and thus encourage a fresh approach to the Stevenson plays as a whole. It also offers an opportunity to consider his relationship with W.E. Henley and Mrs F.V. Stevenson, his collaborators in the five finished playscripts. In doing so, it puts into perspective the place of the plays in Victorian dramaturgy. Biographical facts and quotations from the Works are used where they may reflect his lifelong preoccupation with the theatre and where they may argue, by analysis or illustration, the theatrical potential evident, not only in the plays, but in every element of his personality. This is the man of theatre as theatrical man. A complete list of adaptations of his work in all the performing media and also selected reviews of his plays are added in support of the conclusion which is, sadly, that in considering R.L.S. as dramatist - one can only regret the loss to the theatre of what might have been...</p>

The Theatrical R. L. S.: an Evaluation of the Theatrical Aspects of Robert Louis Stevenson

<p>Within a format of Shakespeare's seven ages of man, the seven stages of Robert Louis Stevenson are presented here as an inaugural investigation of his theatricality. The Introduction deals with this theatricality generally and is concerned, in its two parts, with the more technical elements of theatricality as they relate to the principles of dramatic theory. Stage One is a curtailed family history as a general background to his development and deals with his introduction to Mr Skelt's Toy Theatre. Consideration is also given in Section 3 to his first juvenile dramatic writing. Stage Two tells of his beginning to 'act a part' while at Edinburgh University. This stage also covers the amateur theatricals and the friendships with Fleeming Jenkin, Mrs Sitwell and Sidney Colvin. Stage Three introduces William Ernest Henley. With Stevenson he writes Deacon Brodie for Henry Irving. Stevenson courts and marries Mrs Osbourne while the playwriting goes on by correspondence. The London performance of Deacon Brodie is discussed and its American production with Edward J. Henley. Stage Four covers 1884 - the playwriting year at Bournemouth. Beau Austin and Admiral Guinea are discussed with comment and analysis offered under separate headings. The adaptation of Macaire is considered in relation to Beerbohm Tree. The Hanging Judge and the meeting with Thomas Hardy are also considered. Then follow general remarks about all the plays with special reference to Arthur Pinero's 1903 lecture on Robert Louis Stevenson as Dramatist. Stage Five is a consideration of Early Victorian theatre and its influence on the Henley-Stevenson partnership. This Stage features the final years of the two Henleys and includes a consideration of the Henley review of Balfour's official biography of Stevenson. Stage Six shows us Stevenson as the Scotch Tusitala, the Patriarch of Vailiama, reading his work aloud from the verandah. It is the final performance and in four short sections we see him rise only to die. Stage Seven is devoted entirely to adaptations of Stevensonia by other writers for all performing media to date. A comprehensive survey of R.L.S. and the drama is an area of Stevenson scholarship which has been either neglected or ill-considered. It is the intention of this study to offer a new focus to this dimension of his literary oeuvre and thus encourage a fresh approach to the Stevenson plays as a whole. It also offers an opportunity to consider his relationship with W.E. Henley and Mrs F.V. Stevenson, his collaborators in the five finished playscripts. In doing so, it puts into perspective the place of the plays in Victorian dramaturgy. Biographical facts and quotations from the Works are used where they may reflect his lifelong preoccupation with the theatre and where they may argue, by analysis or illustration, the theatrical potential evident, not only in the plays, but in every element of his personality. This is the man of theatre as theatrical man. A complete list of adaptations of his work in all the performing media and also selected reviews of his plays are added in support of the conclusion which is, sadly, that in considering R.L.S. as dramatist - one can only regret the loss to the theatre of what might have been...</p>

“Georeferencing” and Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s narrative strategy (on the material of “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”)

The article approaches the narrative strategy employed by a famous American horror-writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft in his only novel “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” (1927) and introduces new terms – “georeferencing” and “georeference.” By the latter we mean a toponymical allusion, i. e. an implicit reference to the precedential text incorporated in a toponym (e. g. the author mentions Transylvania to make a georeference to Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”). Lovecraft employs georeferencing and other forms of literary allusions to medieval legends, as well as to famous gothic novels written by his predecessors Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Gustav Meyrink, Bram Stoker, etc. to create a meaningful context for his own novel. His goal is to create a common hypertextual universe, which can and will be productively navigated by a prepared reader. This strategy makes it possible for the reader to uncover hidden logics behind the fragmentary discourse and even foresee the outcome of the central battle between the principal characters. Lovecraft’s sophisticated intention and expert plot-structuring allows us to view “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” as a daring Modernist writing of the period, as well as to reassess Lovecraft’s reputation and cultural impact on the US literature of his time.

L’illa del tresor? Però que no estava traduït, ja?

A propòsit de la seva traducció de L’illa del tresor, de Robert Louis Stevenson, l’autor destacael fet que es tracta probablement d’una de les obres literàries en llengua anglesa de la qual s’han fet més traduccions al català, cosa que avalua positivament, atès que mai no pot existir una traducció definitiva. Fent servir dos o tres exemples de la seva pròpia traducció, il·lustra allò que defineix com l’estil del traductor, el qual consistirà en un biaix i unes estratègies que poden variar molt entre un traductor i un altre, però, per unes vies o unes altres, sempre hauran d’anar a encaminades a recrear l’estil de l’autor. Referint-se al seu propi estil de traduir, assenyala l’oralitat com una de les seves prioritats, així com la preservació de determinats recursos lingüístics perfectament genuïns que les tendències actuals dels usuaris de la llengua catalana han anat marginant a favor d’unes opcions més artificioses.

L’illa del tresor? Però que no estava traduït, ja?

A propòsit de la seva traducció de L’illa del tresor, de Robert Louis Stevenson, l’autor destacael fet que es tracta probablement d’una de les obres literàries en llengua anglesa de la qual s’han fet més traduccions al català, cosa que avalua positivament, atès que mai no pot existir una traducció definitiva. Fent servir dos o tres exemples de la seva pròpia traducció, il·lustra allò que defineix com l’estil del traductor, el qual consistirà en un biaix i unes estratègies que poden variar molt entre un traductor i un altre, però, per unes vies o unes altres, sempre hauran d’anar a encaminades a recrear l’estil de l’autor. Referint-se al seu propi estil de traduir, assenyala l’oralitat com una de les seves prioritats, així com la preservació de determinats recursos lingüístics perfectament genuïns que les tendències actuals dels usuaris de la llengua catalana han anat marginant a favor d’unes opcions més artificioses.