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Young Jim Hawkins finds himself swept into wild adventure in the company of the scurviest dog in literature, the pirate Long John Silver. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson is the original, beloved classic tale of mutiny, castaways, pirates and buried treasure.
About the author
Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish writer born on November 13, 1850, in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. He became renowned for his diverse body of work, which includes novels, essays, poetry, and travel writing. Some of his most celebrated works are Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped, and A Child s Garden of Verses. Stevenson was educated at the University of Edinburgh and attended both the Edinburgh Academy Senior School and Edinburgh Law School. Although initially studying law, he pursued a career in writing, drawing inspiration from authors such as Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Walter Scott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Guy de Maupassant. He married Fanny Stevenson in 1880, and they lived together until his death in 1894. Stevenson s writing often explored themes of adventure, morality, and the duality of human nature, particularly evident in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He spent the latter part of his life in Samoa, where he passed away on December 3, 1894, at the age of 44. His works have left a lasting impact on literature, influencing generations of writers and readers.
Summary
A mysterious visitor to his parent’s inn precipitates a chain of events that plunges Jim Hawkins into an unforgettable adventure among ruthless pirates seeking a fabulous treasure hidden on a desert island.
Initially serialized in a magazine,
Treasure Island first appeared as a book in 1883. Narrated primarily by young Jim Hawkins, the book can be seen as a coming of age story or a thriller for younger readers, but it is a swashbuckling delight for most anyone willing to pick it up. One of the central pleasures of the book is the indelible character of Long John Silver. Manipulative, self-centered, and greedy enough to be purely a villain, he proves such an engaging character that it is hard to feel much ill will toward him. With his missing leg, parrot, and treasure map, Silver is the forefather of countless fictional pirates of prose and film.
Treasure Island is, arguably, both the genesis and zenith of the pirate adventure story. The novel has been repeatedly adapted to stage, radio, film and television. First filmed in 1918,
Treasure Island has been the subject of more than fifty movies and has been translated into science fiction, western, anime and a feature for Jim Henson’s Muppets. All of this springs from the enduring base of Stevenson’s original novel. This is pure storytelling at its most ageless, powerful and beguiling.
With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of
Treasure Island is both modern and readable.
