Combien le lecteur, - tandis que, commodement assis au coin de son feu, il s'amuse a feuilleter les pages d'un roman, - combien il se rend peu compte des fatigues et des angoisses de l'auteur Combien il neglige de se representer les longues nuits de luttes contre des phrases retives, les seances de recherches dans les bibliotheques, les correspondances avec d'erudits et illisibles professeurs allemands, en un mot tout l'enorme echafaudage que l'auteur a edifie et puis demoli, simplement pour lui procurer, a lui, lecteur, quelques instants de distraction au coin de son feu, ou encore pour lui...

Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "buccaneers and buried gold." It was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881 through 1882 under the title Treasure Island, or the mutiny of the Hispaniola, credited to the pseudonym "Captain George North." Treasure Island is traditionally considered a coming-of-age story, and is noted for its atmosphere, characters, and action. It is also noted as a wry commentary on the ambiguity of morality -as seen in Long John Silver-unusual for children's literature. It...

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novella by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson rst published in 1886. The work is commonly known today as The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or simply Jekyll & Hyde. It is about a London lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and the evil Edward Hyde. The novella's impact is such that it has become a part of the language, with the very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" coming to mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one...

Kidnapped is an historical ction adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, written as a -boys' novel- and rst published in the magazine Young Folks from May to July 1886. The novel has attracted the praise and admiration of writers as diverse as Henry James, Jorge Luis Borges, and Hilary Mantel. Kidnapped is set around 18th-century Scottish events, notably the -Appin Murder-, which occurred near Ballachulish in 1752 in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1745. Many of the characters were real people, including one of the principals, Alan Breck Stewart. The political...