Stevenson under the Palm Trees
Mark Thwaite

Alberto Manguel’s highly regarded novella (105 amply-spaced pages) can be read in an hour or so but is well worth savouring. Whilst it is as much about ‘what lies beneath’ as the actual writing itself, it is easy to overplay the profundity of what is, unarguably, a fine work. In the last years of his life the unwell Robert Louis Stevenson travelled to Samoa. Called tusitala by the Islanders (teller of tales), he is an honoured guest. One evening, walking alone, he comes across a Scottish missionary, Mr Baker, wearing a hat very similar to his own. He is astonished that word of this man hasn’t reached him but gladdened to hear again the familiar twang of a robust Edinburgh accent. Soon, a number of violent crimes are committed, a white man is seen running away, and suspicions fall on Stevenson. Playfully referencing the iconic and brilliant Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (so beloved of the Argentinian fantasist Borges), and skewed events from his real life (Stevenson burns a manuscript in the face of his wife’s disapproval, as he had done with the first draft of Dr Jekyll), Manguel has fused biography and fantasy in a treat of a book.

Posted at 12:00AM Monday 01 Jan 2007