L.Yu. Fuchson
READING THE NOVEL BY R.L. STEVENSON'S TREASURE ISLAND
This article is an attempt to interpret the novel by RL Stevenson "Treasure Island". This interpretation, firstly, is based on the identification of the internal value and symbolic connections of the work. Second, the description of the figurative logic of Stevenson's novel leads to an elucidation of his adventurous artistic mechanism that provokes appropriate reader behavior.
Key words: R.L. Stevenson; adventure novel; postponement of the event; instability of life; way; concealment of a person.
The title of the book "Treasure Island" immediately promises a completely definite plot: you need to get to the island somehow, and the treasures appeal to search, extraction, revelation (which is clearly in the Russian translation word). Therefore, the reader is tuned in, firstly, to the journey, and secondly, to unraveling the mystery (opening the hidden). But along with such a plot, the title reveals a completely definite genre encoding of the adventure novel. So already by the name it is sometimes possible to identify the artistic language of the work that you begin to read. However, decoding a language is, although a necessary condition for understanding, but, of course, completely insufficient, since we are trying to understand mainly the message itself in this language. In addition, a literary text is not so much a message as an appeal that puts the reader in the position of not just an addressee, but a response. Therefore, the very step from the sphere of ready-made (code) meanings into the sphere of occasional, specifically situational meaning requires special efforts to correlate the details of the text that appear on the reader's horizon and predetermine a completely unique experience that is relevant only for the novel being read.
Starting with the name itself, the work draws the line between the natural and artificial planes of existence. Treasure Island is not only a geographical point in natural space, but also a place of hidden treasure, because of which unnatural atrocities have been and continue to be committed. The following detail is characteristic in this regard: the body of the murdered pirate Allardyce is not interred, but is blasphemously used as a pointer to what the murder was for (as John Silver says, this is one of Flint's "jokes").
A number of unnatural (violent) deaths in the novel are accompanied by images of physical deformity: the blind Pew, the fingerless Black Dog, Billy Bons with a saber scar on his cheek, the one-legged Silver. All these are traces of a dashing robbery life, that is, an anti-natural trade of wealth. Therefore, physical deformity in Stevenson's work bears the symbolic meaning of marks of deformity of the soul.
If you look at the novel from this point of view, then the meaning of some seeming, at first glance, insignificant details becomes clear. For example, the moment when "Hispaniola" swims up to the island (chapter XIII), the narrator describes as follows: "Our anchor rumbled, falling, and whole clouds of birds, circling and screaming, rose from the forest ..." (translated by N.K. Chukovsky). This detail points to the aforementioned border of nature and man, the live cries of birds and the metallic sounds of civilization that have not been heard here for a long time. And treasures, money are also metal, because of which blood is shed and because of which the whole voyage is performed.
It is no accident that the novel ends with the cry of Captain Flint's parrot, “Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! " (N.K. Chukovsky in his translation does not follow the path of literal correspondence, but poetically accurately conveys this expression: "Piastres! Piastres!"). We hear the same cry in Chapter X when John Silver speaks of the parrot's prediction of a successful swim. This is “Piastres! Piastres! " immediately gives out the meaning of the journey being undertaken. The unnatural background of the heroes' adventures is most acutely felt by the young storyteller, who admits that "at first sight he hated the Treasure Island" (Chapter XIII, translated by N.K. Chukovsky). Chapter XXXIV, describing in particular the arrival at the coast Latin AmericaJim Hawkins talks about the contrast between this charm of the place and the "dark, bloody island experience." And at the very end of Stevenson's novel, the narrator calls Treasure Island accursed.
The Hawkins boy's aversion to Treasure Island reveals the value boundary of natural naturalness and ugliness, the romance of travel and its selfish motive, the bold enterprise of man and the horror of villainy.
Throughout the entire work, the song of the pirates sounds several times:
Fifteen men on the dead man's chest -Yo - ho - ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest -Yo - ho - ho, and a bottle of rum!
Let's make a reservation right away that in this case we are not interested in folklore or literary sources on which the author relied, but exclusively in the internal figurative connections of the novel, in its value-symbolic logic. This song, which Billy Bones sings at the beginning of the novel, is essentially about himself: after all, it is his chest that is mentioned here. Later, the reader learns about his death and that a whole gang is hunting for the chest ("15 people"). But at the same time, the "dead man's chest" is Flint's treasure. The image of the chest represents the image of treasures (hidden values) that we found in the title of the novel. "Dead" is both Billy Bones and Flint (who also died of rum: the devil "calmed him", as the song says. "Rest" here, of course, is a metaphor for death. N.K. Chukovsky translated it this way: " Drink, and the devil will bring you to the end ”).
Dead man's chest connects valuables with the danger of getting them. The chest seems to continue to belong to the dead and death itself. This also includes the already mentioned skeleton of a sailor killed by Flint, which is used as an indicator of the place of hidden treasures, a symbol of the entire journey. Skeleton Island is not just a topographical name; it represents the true essence of the treasure island. Such duality as the proximity of the valuable and the terrible, attractive and disgusting is the most important feature of an adventurous work.
With Billy Bons, the theme of the sea comes into the novel, slightly revealed by the title. Already the description of his appearance is saturated with marine details. This image and the maritime theme itself are ambivalent: they unite the opposite experiences of all characters (and the reader). The "Captain" brought excitement to a quiet country life. And this excitement is twofold. For the couch potato, accustomed to a steady, calm life, this excitement tends to fear, and visitors to the Admiral Ben Bowe were frightened by his stories. But the same excitement in each of them awakens the traveler and indicates the attractiveness of another - wide open - world, the vastness of the unsteady (fluttering) sea, filled with adventures of life.
Jim Hawkins, who is paid by the "captain" to spy on the one-legged sailor and who has nightmares, admits: "My fourpence was dear to me." This situation is constantly repeated: the price of money is danger, risk. Fourpence is a compensation for Hawkins's terrible dreams, similar to the fact that in the "dead man's chest" from the song, which hides the entire plot of the novel, treasures (map) and fear (death) are combined. The same ambivalent neighborhood is observed in the episode where Jim's mother, next to the corpse of Billy Bones, deducts money from his debt. Fear and curiosity are combined in the description of the feelings of different characters, but most often - Jim Hawkins, which is explained by his central position in the plot and the role of the narrator (this also includes his young age - both adventurism and fear). Moreover, curiosity associated with danger sometimes turns out to be salutary, which is shown, for example, by the episode with the barrel (Chapter XI), where it is no coincidence that there is a single apple at the bottom (a terrible truth overheard by Jim). Or the capture of the ship by the hero after the escape at the end of the fifth part.
The moment of recognition, exposure of the pirates in the episode at the barrel coincides with the shout of "Earth!", And also with the fact that a ray of moonlight hit the barrel where Hawkins was hiding. This chronological intersection is significant: the acquisition of the firmness of the soil, the replacement of darkness by light, and ignorance by knowledge - all this is a single, symbolically multidimensional event. Here, as always, the symbolic, and at the same time the value nature of the elements of the artistic world, in fact, forces (and also directs) the efforts of interpretation. Water and earth in Stevenson's work (like all adventure literature in general) mean different attitudes and conditions of a person, and not just purely topological characteristics. For example, the title of Chapter XXIII (“The Ebb-tide Runs”) was read by the translator (N.K. Chukovsky) as “In the power of the low tide”. The literal accuracy is not observed here, but the translation is quite consistent with the spirit of the chapter and the entire book, since it echoes the numerous situations where recklessness, the spiritual analogue of the physical substance of water, wins. The ebb tide carries the hero, surrendered to the power of circumstances, in an uncontrollable shuttle directly to the Hispaniola (XXIII). This and the next chapters of Jim Hawkins' adventures at sea ("My Sea Adventure") are a concentration of images of instability, uncontrollability of the situation. The element of water in the world of the work is indisputably dominant, and so much so that even the earth in an adventure novel loses its usual characteristics of stable reliability. Therefore, the adventures of Jim Hawkins on the shore ("My Shore Adventure") demonstrate the same as at sea, a precarious, desperate situation and the hero's loss (entirely lost), when, for example, he mentally says goodbye to his friends (end of Chapter XIV).
The images of the Roma are related to the theme of water as a substance of insecurity and recklessness. Rum is symbolically equated with the sea, as a man is with a ship, for example, in the plea of \u200b\u200bBilly Bons in Chapter III: "... if I" m not to have my rum now I "ma poor old hulk on a lee Shore" ("if I will not drink rum now, I will be like a poor old vessel thrown ashore by the wind ”). Rum - crazy, devilish water ("Drink and the devil had done for the rest") - is an analogue of recklessness and riskiness sea \u200b\u200btravel... Rum destroys heroes as well as the sea. And madness here merges with insensibility: ".buccaneers were as callous as the sea they sailed on" - pirates are insensitive, "like the sea on which they sail" (XXIII).
Water (sea) equals death in another pirate song:
But one man of her crew alive, What put to sea with seventy-five.
The emphasis in the novel of the substance of water, and with it the instability, uncertainty of a person's position in the world, generates not only images of death, fear, loneliness, etc., but, on the other hand, the experience of unlimited personal freedom. initiative, looking for luck.
The expression "gentlemen of fortune", referring to pirates, against the background of the gentlemen themselves (Dr. Livesey, Squire Trelawney, Captain Smollett) has an important meaning in the novel. Already the clash of Billy Bons and Dr. Livesey in the first chapter of the novel represents not just the opposition of a gentleman and a gentleman of fortune, but also a whole series of related opposites: law and robbery; reason and recklessness; calculating and betting on a case, luck; order and chaos; the stability of the coast and the waves of the sea; houses and ways. However, an essential closeness arises between gentlemen and gentlemen of fortune in an adventure novel, the connection (for all the difference in the motives of their actions) is a moment of adventurism. In admiration of young visitors to Admiral Benbow Billy Bons ("true sea-dog", "real old salt" - I), in Squire Trelawney's delight from the team recruited by Silver ("toughest old salts" - VII); Hawkins' sympathy for Silver, who turned out to be "the most interesting companion" (VIII), - in all this there is an archetype of pernicious temptation. It is clear that different things seduce the hero-adventurers. But in this way the concept of treasure acquires a complex, symbolic meaning. “Treasures” in the novel mean not only money, but also those personal qualities of a person that are usually hidden in the stability of existence and are revealed only in the face of danger, when a person can rely only on himself.
The adventurous mood captures even such a "sane" hero of the novel as Dr. Livesey. But especially Squire Trelawney, the greatest adventurer. Trelawney becomes more like a child than even the boy Jim Hawkins, who notices, reading the squire's letter, that the doctor will not like his talkativeness. For example, in a hired boatswain, the squire is primarily attracted by the fact that he "knows how to whistle signals on the boatswain's pipe." Jim also likes this (end of Chapter VII). But where young Hawkins also doubts, there Squire Trelawney reveals perfect innocence and naivety. His letter ends with an expression of impatience to hit the road quickly: “Seaward, ho! Hang the treasure! It “s the glory of the sea that has turned my head” (VII) [“At sea! Therefore, at first he does not develop a relationship with either the squire or Hawkins. He is a man of duty, therefore “favorite” is a swear word for him. The captain does not play a sailor, but is a sailor, and the sea itself is a space of hard work for him. His adult and thus completely prosaic mood reminds of the danger of the undertaking for which he takes responsibility. We see that the image of Captain Smollett is constructed as a contrast to the romance of adventure. adult characters and childish carelessness. The latter is very essential for an adventure novel. Even Georg Simmel brought the phenomenon of adventure closer to play (the search for luck), as well as to youth1 ... The reader of "Treasure Island" is carried away by the narration on the border of children's and adult attitudes and is, in fact, forced to pay tribute to both sides of the dual situation of the novel. Stevenson's work is sometimes referred to as children's literature. It was not without reason that before the publication of a separate book it was published in parts in the children's magazine Young Folks, and was also translated into the USSR by the publishing house Children's Literature. This is partly justified by the novel's very appeal to that childhood experience of opening up the horizon of yet unrealized possibilities, to which the adult reader must also become involved, returning to the dizzying sensation of freedom inherent in the rise of life.
For the plot of the journey, the collision of the house and the path is important, which in the novel "Treasure Island", as we have already noted, is associated with the opposite of land and water. The inn "Admiral Benbow", from the image of which the story begins, is related to both of these substances. A tavern is a place for a passer-by, a casual visitor, but at the same time you can settle here. In other words, this is the border of the house of Jim Hawkins and the path along which the old sailor comes here, and with him - the mystery itself. For Hawkins, his father's inn is home. Billy Bones, who stayed at Admiral Benbow, applies purely nautical definitions to it: berth (anchorage, pier). Or: "Silence, there, between decks!" (translated by N.K. Chukovsky: "Hey, there, on the deck, be silent!"). In Chapter III, Billy Bones says: "... aboard at the Admiral Benbow" (aboard the Admiral Benbow). The opposition of topological definitions (house - ship) here represents the opposition of the attitudes of a couch potato and a sailor.
Since the substances of instability and stability in the adventure novel, as already noted, are unequal, the image of the house here is only a frame for the plot-path.
In the center, starting with the title of the novel, there is an image of treasures, and a person in the world of the work also carries something hidden, a secret. These include, for example, Captain Smollett's deceptive first impression on the squire and Hawkins, or the extravagance and unpredictability of Jim Hawkins. The character of the character in the novel "Treasure Island" is built not as changing, but as revealing something hidden. Such a "treasure" may be courage (old Tom Redruth, whom Hawkins despised at the beginning, dies like a hero) or an undead nature (Abraham Gray). On the other hand, the cunning, duplicity of pirates is revealed. Captain Smollett confesses that the team managed to trick him (XII). The most terrible of pirates "softly lays down", as N.K. Chukovsky conveyed the phrase: “Silver was that genteel”; he is good-natured and cheerful, but Billy Bones and Flint himself were afraid of him. The first part of the novel is called "The Old Buccaneer", while the first chapter is "The Old Sea-dog at the Admiral Benbow" ("The Old Sea-wolf in Admiral Benbow"). The title of the chapter, in contrast to the more frank title of the part, introduces the point of view of the visitors of the inn, as well as Hawkins himself, who did not yet know that Billy Bones was a pirate. Already such a discrepancy in names outlines a dual image of a man, whose villainous essence seems to be hiding behind the appearance of a brave sailor.
The discovery of a secret can be considered a general, abstract formula for constructing an artistic object and the words of the novel "Treasure Island", which predetermines a particular reading behavior. Let's take a closer look at the episode in Chapter VI. Before opening the package of papers from Billy Bons' chest, which is impatient for all three characters, and with them - and the reader, there is a retardation - a conversation about Flint. The most important moment, in my own words, is being delayed - the revelation of the hidden: the "dead man's chest" hides the bundle, about which it is said that it was sewn together (was sewn together). The bundle, in turn, hides the map of the island. But the map also hides, because it needs decoding, and so on. Thus, the emphasis is placed on discovery as overcoming a number of obstacles, which, in fact, unfolds the work as a whole precisely due to the continuing postponement of the final disclosure. The full disclosure of the treasure therefore signifies an essential (and not accidental) end to the novel. In this case, we are dealing with treasures as an aesthetic value, since with the disappearance of the secret (concealment) the novel itself ends.
The given episode of the work shows its entire artistic mechanism. Retardation is not just one of the properties of an adventure text - it is the way it is constructed, as well as the way it is read. In Chapter XXX, Dr. Livesey gives the map to the pirates, which surprises Hawkins, who does not yet know that Ben Gunn has already hidden the treasures. Thus, the disclosure of the secret is again postponed. Since the narration is conducted on behalf of Hawkins, then for him, as for the pirates, in whose captivity he is (XXXI-XXXII), the card retains its power, as for the reader at that time. Therefore, the reader's horizon of anticipation of discovery overlaps with the horizon of the characters.
Speaking about chivalric novels and referring to adventure literature in general, H. Ortega y Gasset makes the following remark: "We neglect the characters that are presented to us for the sake of the way they are presented to us." Stevenson's novel fully supports this idea. Here the characters are interesting only insofar as they are relevant to the event. For example, chapter XXVI is called Israel Hands, which seems to indicate its main subject. However, the reader by this point already knows about the boatswain's treachery and duplicity, so the chapter's interest is focused not just on who Israel Hands is, but on the way he appears to be. The adventurous hero, as Bakhtin accurately put it, “is not a substance, but a pure function of adventures and adventures”. It is how the hero will act and what it will lead to that is the subject of the description. And here, as in the rest of the novel, revelation fights cover-up and is thereby delayed. Hands sends Jim off deck to hide his intention to arm himself with a knife; Hawkins, in turn, having unraveled the boatswain's cunning, pretends not to suspect anything, and watches him. But as soon as one trick is revealed, it is immediately replaced by another, when Israel Hands verbally admits his defeat, and then makes a last attempt to kill Hawkins, who has lost his vigilance. Losing vigilance in this case means being in the illusion of finality of revelation.
Thus, the outcome of the event is constantly postponed; so the reader, seemingly fully understanding who is who, gets involved in how one trick collides with another. The event of revelation is realized as a delayed event due to the active, phased concealment. Thus, the reader is placed in a position of anticipation, an intense expectation of each subsequent incident.
Retardation is often explained psychologically as maintaining the reader's interest. And this, apparently, is the correct interpretation, but not the most profound, since it remains unclear why the postponed event is more interesting than the immediate one. In anticipation of an event in the place of its immediate experience, there is an openness of the horizon of possibilities that unites the hero and the reader. An event in the status of the possible and the supposed requires from the reader quite special mental efforts, other than the event in the status of the actual and, so to speak, taken into account. In this latter case, the reading horizon is closed by a hopeless "already" with which nothing can be done. An event that has come true is radically different from an event that is coming true and is about to come true. Retardation as a postponement brings the event to the question posed to the reader. The reader falls into his sphere of influence. Therefore, it is not so much a matter of psychological characteristics the experience of the event — already and the event — still, but in the special architectonics of the expected event that is in question, as well as in the special image of the world and man - as opening up.
The expectation of a life (narrated) event is, at the same time, the realization of the aesthetic event of narration. It is this expectation, which gradually comes true when the story is actively inhibited, that is the particularly exciting nature of the adventure novel.
1 See: G. Simmel, Selected Works. T. 2.M., 1996. P. 215.
2 Ortega y Gasset H. Aesthetics. Philosophy of culture. M., 1991.S. 126
3 Bakhtin M.M. Coll. cit .: in 7 volumes.Vol. 2.M., 2000.S. 72
I do not know, is it a fake? I haven't heard anything about the unreleased "final chapter" before ...The original version of Treasure Island was one chapter longer. Moreover, it was a key chapter, without which the entire novel remains a jumble of incomprehensible coincidences, ridiculous accidents, and simply incredible events that would be more appropriate in the stories of Baron Munchausen. It was this chapter that demanded from Stephenson to withdraw his first publisher - Andrew Lang, a smart businessman from literature. Without her, the most complex psychological thriller has turned into nothing but good-quality pop music. And, of course, he insisted on changing the name. The original, The Strange Story of James Hawkins and Benjamin Gunn, struck him as too complicated for the tabloid novel he hoped to cash in on.
Then, being an unknown novice author, under the pressure of circumstances, Stevenson followed his lead, but regretted all the remaining 11 years of his life. Moreover, he subsequently tried more than once to persuade Lang to finally publish the full version of the book. So, in one of the last letters, already written in Samoa, he writes to him "Dear Andrew, the only thing I pray for is that you still agree to return the" Island "to its true appearance ...". But the publisher, who understood that a one-time surge of interest would not recoup the losses from the fact that the book would no longer be perceived as mass reading after that, was adamant.
So, the last chapter, which for that time was just a revolutionary literary move, after all, not only psychedelic, but also ordinary detective works then practically did not exist at that time, was called upon, finally, to explain all the strangeness of history, put everything upside down and lay it down pieces of the puzzle into a whole picture. It finally revealed that the entire history of Flint's treasure and his search is told by a psychiatric patient suffering from a split personality. One of these personalities imagines himself a fabulous rich man who has found untold treasures, the other remembers that no one has found Flint's gold (and where did he come from, tea, the days of the conquistadors are long gone, and the main prey of pirates is goods that have to be sold dealers for a pittance), and he, for having deceived his comrades with stories about gold, was left alone on a desert island, from where he was eventually rescued by English sailors - they saved his body, but not his mind.
And a fabulous story about incredible adventures becomes what she was originally - the fantasy of a little boy left without a father early. A boy who builds a fictional world and gradually not only begins to believe in it himself, but also convinces others of its reality. He sought to assert himself among his peers and help his mother with money, playing a coin. But instead he got into debt and was forced to steal the payment that the only guest - the old sailor - paid for the hotel stay. In order to prevent the fraud from being revealed, he gave the old man a drink, and scared everyone else that he was a terrible pirate who would kill him for a pinch of tobacco ... smugglers and a pirate story. To intimidate the mother, to stage a robbery, there is no money. But the story of the pirates also had to be explained to Doctor Livesey somehow. A map drawn from an old pilot by Jim himself came to the place.
Well, then the loop of lies only tightened. The rich idler Trelawney seizes on the idea, equips the ship, and the boy is taken to the other side of the world. We must do something, because soon the ship will arrive on the island, where there is no gold. And Jim walks on the beaten path - the lie again becomes salvation from shame and fear. First, he lies to the team about treasures, trying to earn credibility with her, and then he invents a conspiracy and provokes a conflict. When blood has been shed and both sides have nowhere to retreat, they cannot calmly discuss the situation and understand that the little liar deceived them all. However, Silver is trying to find out the reasons for the sudden flight from the ship of all the chiefs, talking with Captain Smollett at the fort's fence, but the arrogance of the estate and professional narrow-mindedness do not allow him to understand that the cook is not cunning, but sincerely perplexed.
After the first battle and losses, when the ardor of both sides cools down somewhat, it would be time to try to figure it out, and surrender to someone at the mercy of the winner. But Jim makes another unexpected move - he escapes from the fort (why?!?). In search of a way out, he wanders the island and as a result reaches a new level of madness. He meets his alter ego, Ben Gunn. At first, this is just the usual fictional friend syndrome for children and adolescents, perfectly described by Astrid Lindgren in Carlson (by the way, here, too, Stevenson will have to give priority). But over time, he becomes a full-fledged inhabitant of Hawkins' body, a kind of Mr. Hyde, who periodically takes power into his own hands. It is the flaring madness, which, as you know, sometimes allows patients to do incredible things, showing fantastic ingenuity, inhuman dexterity and strength, that allows Jim to embroil old Hands and his comrade, seize the ship, and then kill Israel itself. The hijacking of the ship allows the crew to embitter, preventing the reconciliation of the parties, and the story of Ben Gunn - to explain to Livesey and the others why the treasure is not where it is marked on the map. And in order for Silver not to give up, and to provoke a new fight, Jim, as it were, accidentally falls into the hands of one-legged John. He knows that he is just a peaceful cook, and that nothing serious threatens him.
But now, the last battle took place, the remnants of the "pirates" were defeated. And then, finally, it turns out that there was no trace of gold, and angry adults do not find any other solution (not to hang a sick child), except to leave Hawkins as punishment alone on the island, alone with his fantasies. And loneliness and deprivation complete the process of destruction of his personality.
Here's a sad story. I retell it in my own words and it turned out quite long. Stevenson, of course, was written much more interestingly, almost in a cinematic way - in short, capacious phrases, after each of which a click seemed to occur in the reader's brain, putting everything in its place. It is a pity that the last chapter of this "Strange story ..." has come down to us only in a faded retelling.
1. Introduction
2. Biography of R.L. Stevenson
3. Basic literary directions in 19th century England.
4. Contribution of Stevenson RL to literature.
5. Neo-romanticism R.L. Stevenson
6. The history of the creation of the novel "Treasure Island"
7. The peculiarity of the narrative in the novel "Treasure Island"
8. Facts and Fiction in Treasure Island
9. The novel "Treasure Island" in Russia
10. Conclusion
11. Footnotes
12. References
Introduction.
The purpose of this course work is to analyze the work of the outstanding English writer of the XIX century, Robert Louis Stevenson. The work examines the points of contact of the writer's creativity with the general literary process, and also highlights the new that makes up his bright personality.
At the same time, we analyze the “biographical origins” of the formation of a special - own - creative method of R.L. Stevenson and tracing the creative dynamics of the writer. Particular attention is paid to the central and most famous work of the writer "Treasure Island" and the peculiarities of the narration in it. However, this work is analyzed in the context of the entire work of the writer.
The relevance of the topic is due to the peculiarity of the literary process in 19th century England.
In Great Britain in the last third of the 19th century, the effectiveness of the influence of the concept of "new imperialism" on the mass consciousness is largely explained not only by the deep and skilled study in the works of intellectuals and political practitioners, but also by its embodiment in an artistic form, in various genres of music and visual arts... Prose and poetry, filled with vivid and memorable images, their exotic flavor, sharp and intense compositions, gripping stories became effective means of establishing control over the psyche of ordinary British people. Thus, the basic theses of the concept of "new imperialism" were introduced into the Victorian system of values. Moreover, evolution artistic images rather accurately reflected the changing priorities of empire building, expansion and defense.
We also mean the wide distribution of entertaining, story-telling literature.
For example, we know that many, now classics of world literature, often made compromises with the public and publishers, and wrote taking into account the market conditions.
It is also known that R.L. Stevenson originally published his novel "Treasure Island", which later brought him worldwide fame and the title of a classic, in the respectable children's magazine "Young Folks" among the banal, "mass", as they would now be defined, works.
Thus, we are talking, in our opinion, about the similarity of the situation of the existence of literature in England in the XIX century and the interests of the reading public. It is known that the public, in its reading habits, tends to gravitate towards the exoticism of wanderings and adventures or towards science fiction in order to forget about the frightening reality. And also to social literature in order to know and comprehend this reality.
And the basic aesthetic principle of the artistic version of the “new imperialism” was the principle of “courageous optimism” as the creative credo of neo-romanticism. This trend manifested itself in almost all genres of art as a challenge, on the one hand, to the Victorian routine of philistine vegetation, everyday life, hypocrisy and hypocrisy of the middle class, and, on the other, to the decadent decadent aestheticism of the intelligentsia. Neo-romanticism was oriented primarily towards a youthful audience, embodying "not a relaxed and painful, but a life-loving, vivid outlook of healthy youth." The neo-romantic heroes acted “by no means in a hothouse environment; through a fascinating plot, they encountered extraordinary circumstances that required the exertion of all forces, energetic, independent decisions and action. The neo-romantic system of values \u200b\u200bwas characterized by opposition to spiritual inertia and moral patterns, the individual's need for independence, for self-realization, not limited by any everyday conventions. This is naturally associated with the values \u200b\u200bof spiritual and physical forces manifested in the fight against a hostile outside world and in victory over powerful and dangerous opponents.
One of the brightest and most complete expressions of the imperial system of values \u200b\u200bin England in XIX was fiction, and especially those genres that were intended for the youth. "New Romanticism" by R.L. Stevenson, J. Conrad, A. Conan - Doyle, R. Kipling, D. Henty, W. Kingston, R. Ballantyne and others embodied the moral credo of duty and self-sacrifice, discipline and faith, harmonious unity of fortitude and physical strength. The heroes of the "new romantics" are purposeful, ready for risk and struggle, full of a thirst for wandering and adventure. They sever ties with the world of monotonous and respectable philistine prosperity for the sake of the moral obligations of the imperial mission, for the sake of seeking deeds and glory.
In this work, we will try to emphasize the creative uniqueness of R.L. Stevenson, making his works relevant at all times.
And we will try to resolve the paradox of R.L. Stevenson, who in the reader's memory often turns out to be the author of one book. They call Stevenson's name and after him, as an exhaustive explanation, - "Treasure Island". The special popularity of "Treasure Island" in the school environment has strengthened the reputation of Stevenson's work as an open and very accessible book, and for its author - the fame of a literary man writing for youth. A similar circumstance prompts to see in this novel, as in Stevenson's work in general, a phenomenon that is simpler and rather narrow in meaning (adventure, fascination, romance) in comparison with its actual meaning, real meaning and impact. Meanwhile, it is known that the most complex knots of many literary problems on English soil converge both before and now to the work of R.L. Stevenson. Stevenson is the creator of such a "light" book as "Treasure Island". To understand and understand the originality of Stevenson and its meaning, one must remember him - the author of many books other than "Treasure Island", and take a closer look at the romance in creativity and, possibly, life.
Biography of R.L. Stevenson
STEVENSON, ROBERT LEWIS (Stevenson, Robert Louis (Lewis)) (1850-1894), English writer of Scottish descent. Born November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh, in the family of an engineer. When he was baptized, he received the name Robert Lewis Balfour, but in adulthood he abandoned it, changing the surname to Stevenson, and the spelling of the middle name from Lewis to Louis (without changing the pronunciation).
The biography of the writer was by no means similar to the life of his heroes - knights, pirates, adventurers. He was born into a family of hereditary civil engineers from an ancient Scottish clan. On the maternal side, he belonged to the old Balfour family. Impressions of childhood, songs and tales of his beloved nanny brought up in Robert a love for the past of his country, determined the choice of theme for most of his works: Scotland, its history and heroes. The only son of a family of Lighthouse Authority ancestors, Stevenson grew up in an environment where he said every day one could hear "about shipwrecks, about reefs that stand like sentries off the coast ... about heather-covered mountain peaks."
From the age of three, the bronchial disease put the boy to bed, deprived him of his studies and games with his peers. Periodically repeated bleeding from the throat constantly reminds him of imminent death, taking the artist out of the hustle and bustle of everyday life into existential "borderline situations", to the fundamental principles of being. This disease tormented Robert from childhood until his death, making him feel disabled. “My childhood,” he wrote, “is a complex mixture of experiences: fever, delirium, insomnia, painful days and agonizing long nights. I'm more familiar with Bed Country than Green Garden. "
But the involuntary settler of the "Land of the Bed" flared up a passion for life affirmation. So it was the fate of Stevenson that he, an aborigine of the "Country of Bed", was almost an eternal wanderer out of mental need and out of cruel need. He expressed his spiritual need in the poem "The Tramp", in lines that sound like the motto:
“This is how I would like to live,
I need a little:
The vault of heaven, and the sound of the stream,
And the road too.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Death will come someday
In the meantime, he lives -
Let the earth bloom all around
Let the road wind. "
(Translated by N. Chukovsky)
She found a way out in romantic impulses and forms, which was facilitated by the vivid imagination of the child and early, again, forced involvement in the "Land of Books".
“In my childhood and adolescence,” Stevenson recalled, “I was considered a lazy person and as an example of a lazy person they pointed their fingers at me; but I didn’t idle, I was constantly busy with my own concern - learning to write. In my pocket there were certainly two books stuck out: one I read, wrote in another. I went for a walk, and my brain diligently searched for the proper words for what I saw; sitting down by the road, I began to read or, taking a pencil and a notebook, took notes, trying to convey the features of the area, or wrote down for memory the lines of poetry that struck me. So I lived, with words. " Stevenson's notes were not made with a vague purpose, he was guided by a conscious intention to acquire skills, he was tempted by the need for skill. First of all, he wanted to master the skill of description, then dialogue. He composed conversations about himself, played roles, and wrote down successful remarks. And yet this was not the main thing in training: the experiments were useful, but in this way only "the lowest and least intellectual elements of art were mastered - the choice of an essential detail and the exact word ... The happier natures achieved the same natural instinct." The training suffered from a serious flaw: it was devoid of measure and pattern.
History of the creation of the novel "Treasure Island"
A special place in the work of Stevenson is occupied by the work that made the writer famous throughout the world - "Treasure Island" (1883).
The story of the creation of the novel is quite curious: one rainy day - and it rains quite often in Pitlochry - Robert entered the living room and saw: a boy, the writer's stepson, was playing, bending over a large sheet of paper lying on the table, on which the contours of an island were depicted , the boy drew a map, and his stepfather noticed the game and continued ... Taking a pencil, Stevenson began to finish drawing the map. He marked mountains, a stream, a forest ... Under three red crosses he made an inscription: "Here are hidden treasures." With its outline, the map resembled a "raised fat dragon" and was full of unusual names: Spyglass Hill, Skeleton Island, etc.
After that, thrusting the sheet into his pocket, he silently left ... Lloyd was greatly offended by such a strange behavior of his always attentive stepfather. More than many books, Stevenson appreciated maps: "for their richness and for the fact that they are not boring to read." “I dropped my thoughtful glance at the map of the island,” says Stevenson, “and the heroes of my future book began to stir among the invented forests ... I did not have time to recover, as a blank sheet of paper appeared in front of me, and I was already compiling a list of chapters.” And the next day, Robert called the boy into his office and read him the first chapter of the novel "The Ship's Cook", which today is known throughout the world as "Treasure Island".
Stevenson continued to write the novel at an amazing speed - one chapter a day. He wrote in a way that he probably never wrote again. And in the evenings he read it to all his household.
It looks like hitting the target. Previously, Stevenson more than once sketched out a plan for the novel and even began to write, but this, according to him, was the end. And then everything suddenly came to life and moved, every character, as soon as he emerged from the pen of Stevenson, stepped into the shadow of an invented forest or on an imaginary deck, he already knew exactly what he should do, as if the book had long been finished was in the author's head.
“Sooner or later, I was destined to write a novel. Why? An idle question, "- recalled Stevenson at the end of his life in the article" My first book - "Treasure Island", as if answering the question of an inquisitive reader. The article was written in 1894 at the request of Jerome K. Jerome for the magazine "Idler" ("Slacker"), which then started a series of publications by already famous contemporary writers on the theme "My first book." "Treasure Island", in fact, did not correspond to the topic, since this first novel of the writer was far from his first book. Stevenson had in mind not just the chronological order of the appearance of his books, but above all their meaning. Treasure Island is Stevenson's first book to gain widespread acclaim and make him world famous. Among the most significant of his works, this book is indeed the first in a row and at the same time the most popular. How many times, since his early youth, Stevenson has taken to a novel, changing the ideas and methods of narration, testing himself again and again and trying his hand, prompted not only by considerations of calculation and ambition, but above all by an inner need and a creative task to overcome a large genre. For a long time, as mentioned above, attempts were unsuccessful. “A story — I mean, a bad story — can be written by anyone who has zeal, paper, and leisure, but not everyone is able to write a novel, even a bad one. Size is what kills. " Volume frightened, drained strength and killed the creative impulse when Stevenson took on a big thing. With his health and feverish efforts of creativity, it was generally difficult for him to overcome the barriers of the big genre. It is no coincidence that he has no "long" novels. But not only these obstacles stood in his way when he had to abandon big plans. The first novel required a certain degree of maturity, a developed style and confident skill. And it is necessary that the beginning be successful, that it opens up the prospect of a natural continuation of what has been begun. This time everything worked out in the best way, and that ease of inner state was created, which Stevenson especially needed, when the imagination, full of strength, is spiritualized, and the creative thought, as it were, unfolds by itself, requiring neither spurs nor prodding.
This time, the map of the fictional "Treasure Island" gave impetus to the creative idea. "On a chilly September morning - a merry light was burning in the fireplace, the rain drummed on the window pane - I started" The Ship's Cook "- that was the name of the novel at first." Subsequently, this name was given to one of the parts of the novel, namely the second. For a long time, with short interruptions, in a narrow circle of family and friends, Stevenson read what he had written in a day - usually the day's "portion" was the next chapter. By general eyewitness accounts, Stevenson read well. The listeners showed a keen interest in his work on the novel. Some of the details they suggested ended up in the book. Robert's father also came to listen. Sometimes he even added small details to the text. Thanks to Thomas Stevenson, Billy Bones 'chest and the items that were in it appeared, and a barrel of apples, the same one, climbing into which the hero revealed the pirates' insidious plan. “My father, a grown child and a romantic at heart, immediately caught fire with the idea of \u200b\u200bthis book,” Stevenson recalled.
The novel was still far from finished when the owner of the respectable children's magazine Young Folks, having familiarized himself with the first chapters and the general idea of \u200b\u200bthe work, began to publish it. Not on the first pages, but after other compositions, the success of which he had no doubt about - trivial compositions designed for a banal taste, forgotten long and forever. Treasure Island was printed in Young Folks from October 1881 to January 1882 under the pen name Captain George North. The success of the novel was negligible, if not dubious: the editorial board received dissatisfied and indignant responses, and such responses were not isolated. A separate edition of "Treasure Island" - already under the real name of the author - came out only at the end of November 1883. This time his success was solid and undeniable. True, the first edition did not go out immediately, but the next year a second edition appeared, in 1885 a third, illustrated one, and the novel and its author became widely known. The magazine reviews ranged from condescending to overly enthusiastic, but a tone of approval prevailed.
The novel was read by people of different circles and ages. Stevenson learned that English Prime Minister Gladstone was reading the novel long after midnight with extraordinary pleasure. Stevenson, who did not like Gladstone (he saw in him the embodiment of the hated bourgeois respectability), said to this: "It would be better if this high-ranking old man was involved in the affairs of state in England." An adventure novel is impossible without a tense and captivating storyline; the nature of the genre itself requires it. Stevenson substantiates this idea in many ways, relying on the psychology of perception and the classical tradition, which in English literature dates back to "Robinson Crusoe". Events, "incidents", their relevance, their connection and development should, in his opinion, be the primary concern of the author of an adventure work. The psychological development of characters in the adventure genre becomes dependent on the tension of action, caused by the rapid change of unexpected "incidents" and unusual situations, is involuntarily limited to a tangible limit, as can be seen from the novels of Dumas or Marriet.
Although Stevenson did not become a lighthouse builder, he writes about storms and reefs with the pen of a hereditary sea man. And borrowing? What is easier to catch him in literary theft? Well, of course, the parrot was taken from Defoe, and the island as a place of action was inhabited by Robinson Crusoe. However, it never occurred to anyone to reproach Stevenson, neither the critics during his lifetime, nor the literary historians in the future. Stevenson didn’t hurt the fact that he himself admitted: the boy gave the idea, his father made an inventory of Billy Bones’s chest, and when the skeleton was needed, he was found in Edgar Poe’s, and the parrot was ready, alive, he could only be taught instead of “Poor Robinson Crusoe ! " repeat: “Piastres! Piastres! " Even the map, which constituted a special subject of author's pride for Stevenson, for that matter, was used more than once, and above all by Gulliver. But the fact of the matter is that Stevenson did not pick up all of this all of a sudden, but knew it deeply, his neighborhood, the bookish - fictional world with which he got used to since childhood.
The boy who played with his father in the invented little men became big and wrote "Treasure Island".
Feature of the story in the novel "Treasure Island"
Treasure Island, the first novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, was created by an experienced writer, author of many short stories and literary essays. As we can see from the above, Stevenson has long been preparing to write this particular novel, in which he could express his view of the world and of modern man, which does not interfere with the fact that the events of the novel are attributed to the 18th century. The novel is also surprising in that it is narrated from the perspective of the boy Jim - a participant in the search for a treasure located on a distant island. Smart and brave Jim manages to uncover a conspiracy of pirates who were going to take the treasures from the organizers of this romantic voyage. After going through many adventures, brave travelers reach the island, find there a man who was once a pirate, and with his help they take possession of the treasure. Empathy for Jim and his friends does not prevent the reader from singling out John Silver among all the characters. The one-legged ship chef, an associate of the pirate Flint, is one of the most remarkable images created by Stevenson.
Treasure Island begins with a scanty description of the boring life of a small village where the hero, Jim Hawkins, lives. His everyday life is devoid of joy: the boy serves the visitors of the tavern, which his father maintains, and calculates the proceeds. This monotony is disturbed by the arrival of a strange sailor, who turned the measured life of ordinary people and abruptly changed the fate of Jim: "I remember, as if it was yesterday, how, stepping heavily, he dragged to our door, and his sea chest was taken after him in a wheelbarrow." From this moment, unusual events begin: the death of a sailor - a former pirate, the hunt for his accomplices for the map of Captain Flint, stored in the sailor's chest, and, finally, an accident that allowed Jim to become the owner of the map of the treasure island: “... - I said, picking up a stack of papers wrapped in an oilcloth. "
So, Jim, Dr. Livesey and Squire Trelawney - quite respectable people - turn out to be the owners of the map and decide to go in search of treasures. It is noteworthy that with all the contempt for pirates that the squire expresses ("What do they need except money? For what, except money, they would risk their skin!"), He immediately buys a schooner and equips an expedition for other people's wealth.
“The spirit of our century, its swiftness, the mixing of all tribes and classes in the pursuit of money, a fierce, in its own way romantic struggle for existence, with the eternal change of professions and countries ...” - this is how Stevenson characterizes the time in which he lives. Indeed, half of the world rushes to Africa, America, Australia in search of gold, diamonds, ivory. These searches attract not only adventurers, but also "respectable" bourgeois, merchants, who, in turn, become participants in "romantic" adventures in unknown countries. So Stevenson puts almost an equal sign between pirates and "respectable" bourgeois. After all, they have the same goal - money, which gives the right not only to a "happy life", but also to a position in society.
Silver, who believes that after the treasures are found, the captain, the doctor, the squire and Jim need to be killed, says: “I do not want at all that when I become a member of parliament and drive around in a gilded carriage, the devil to a monk, one of the thin-legged dragonflies. "
Silver's desire to become a member of parliament is far from utopian. Who cares how the money was obtained - it is important that they have it. And this opens up inexhaustible opportunities in bourgeois society to become a respected person. They don't talk about the past. Money can also buy a title of nobility. But this remark of Silver also contains a hidden irony, expressing Stevenson's attitude towards those who run the country.
The romantic adventures of the heroes begin from the first minutes of their journey. Jim accidentally overhears Silver's conversation with the sailors: “... I witnessed the last chapter in the story of how an honest sailor was seduced to join this band of robbers, perhaps the last honest sailor on the whole ship. However, I was immediately convinced that this sailor was not the only one. Silver whistled softly, and someone else sat down to the barrel. And he learns about the danger that is growing every minute. The events on the island, the fight of pirates with a handful of loyal people, the disappearance of treasures - all this creates a special tension in the plot. And it is in this situation, pushed to the limit, that the characters of the heroes emerge: the narrow-minded, hot-tempered and self-confident squire, the sensible Doctor Livesey, the reasonable and decisive captain, the boyishly impulsive Jim and the smart, insidious, born diplomat Silver. Their every act, every word expresses the inner essence of character, conditioned by natural data, upbringing, position in society, from which they are now divorced.
The writing
and easy, with careful reading it becomes multifaceted and meaningful. Its adventurous plot, despite the traditional nature of the theme - this is a tale about pirates, adventures at sea - is original.
The young hero of "Treasure Island" Jim Gawkins has to independently navigate in difficult circumstances under adverse conditions, take risks, strain his brain and muscles. You have to make a moral choice, to defend a life position. Jim and his friends meet pirates. These are real marauders, the embodiment of predatory cunning. Jim in their midst is "treasure island". And the deep meaning of his adventures is to manifest real treasures in himself,
Stevenson praises the romantic inspiration of feelings, but does not isolate these high feelings from the real ground. He is attracted by complex characters, spiritual disagreements and contrasts. One of the brightest characters is the one-legged ship's chef John Silver. He is cunning, evil, cruel, but at the same time smart, cunning, energetic and dexterous. His psychological profile is complex and contradictory, but convincing. With great force of artistic expression, the writer shows the moral essence of man. Stevenson sought to "teach people joy" with his works, arguing that such "lessons should sound cheerful and inspired, should strengthen courage in people." After all, many young romantics dream of finding their own treasure island ...