|
Island Nights' Entertainments
''Island Nights' Entertainments'' (also known as ''South Sea Tales'') is a collection of short story, short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1893. It would prove to contain some of his final completed work before his death in 1894. It contains three stories: *"The Beach of Falesá" *"The Bottle Imp" *"The Isle of Voices" Dedication The dedication was written in January 1892 in a letter to Charles Baxter, Robert Louis Stevenson's friend and adviser, and the book finally published in 1893.''The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson. Volume Seven, September 1890 - December 1892.'' Bradford A. Booth and Ernest Mehew (Editors). Yale University Press. The dedication reads: All three were Robert Louis Stevenson's fellow cabin passengers on the 1890 ''Janet Nicholl'' voyage.' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Beach Of Falesá
"The Beach of Falesá" is a novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It was first published in the ''Illustrated London News'' in 1892, and later published in book form in the short-story collection ''Island Nights' Entertainments'' (1893). It was written after Stevenson moved to the South Seas island of Samoa just a few years before he died there. Plot John Wiltshire, a Scottish copra trader on the fictional South Sea island of Falesá. Upon arriving on the island, he meets a rival trader named Case, who (in an apparently friendly gesture) arranges for him to be "married" to a local girl named Uma in a ceremony designed to impress the natives but to be completely non-binding in the view of Europeans. Wiltshire soon discovers that Uma has a taboo attached to her which causes all the other natives to refuse to do business with him, to Case's profit. He also hears rumours of Case having been involved in the suspicious deaths of his previous competitors. Although realising t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Hatherell - Robert Louis Stephenson - The Bottle Imp 2 - Original Scan (transformed, Cropped)
William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of England in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." Shortened familiar versions in English include Will, Wills, Willy, Willie, Liam, Bill, and Billy. A common Irish form is Liam. Scottish diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie or the play ''Douglas''). Female forms are Willa, Willemina, Wilma and Wilhelmina. Etymology William is related to the German given name ''Wilhelm''. Both ultimately descend from Proto-Germanic ''*Wiljahelmaz'', with a direct cognate also in the Old Norse name ''Vilhjalmr'' and a West Germanic borrowing into Medieval Latin ''Willelmus''. The Proto-Germanic name is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short Story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest types of literature and has existed in the form of legends, mythic tales, folk tales, fairy tales, tall tales, fables and anecdotes in various ancient communities around the world. The modern short story developed in the early 19th century. Definition The short story is a crafted form in its own right. Short stories make use of plot, resonance, and other dynamic components as in a novel, but typically to a lesser degree. While the short story is largely distinct from the novel or novella/short novel, authors generally draw from a common pool of literary techniques. The short story is sometimes referred to as a genre. Determining what exactly defines a short story has been recurrently problematic. A classic definition of a short story ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'', '' Kidnapped'' and ''A Child's Garden of Verses''. Born and educated in Edinburgh, Stevenson suffered from serious bronchial trouble for much of his life, but continued to write prolifically and travel widely in defiance of his poor health. As a young man, he mixed in London literary circles, receiving encouragement from Andrew Lang, Edmund Gosse, Leslie Stephen and W. E. Henley, the last of whom may have provided the model for Long John Silver in ''Treasure Island''. In 1890, he settled in Samoa where, alarmed at increasing European and American influence in the South Sea islands, his writing turned away from romance and adventure fiction toward a darker realism. He died of a stroke in his island home in 1894 at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Bottle Imp
"The Bottle Imp" is an 1891 short story by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson usually found in the short story collection ''Island Nights' Entertainments''. It was first published in the '' New York Herald'' (February–March 1891) and '' Black and White'' London (March–April 1891). In it, the protagonist buys a bottle with an imp inside that grants wishes. However, the bottle is cursed; if the holder dies bearing it, his or her soul is forfeit to hell. Plot Keawe, a poor Native Hawaiian, buys a strange unbreakable bottle from a sad, elderly gentleman who credits the bottle with his fortune. He promises that an imp residing in the bottle will also grant Keawe his every desire. Of course, there is a catch. The bottle must be sold, for cash, at a loss, i.e. for less than its owner originally paid, and cannot be thrown or given away, or else it will magically return to him. All of these rules must be explained by each seller to each purchaser. If an owner of the bott ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Isle Of Voices
"The Isle of Voices" is a short story written by Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in his collection ''Island Nights' Entertainments'' in 1893. Plot The protagonist is a man named Keola living on the island of Molokai, Hawaii. Keola and his wife live with her father Kalamake, a notorious sorcerer who appears to have an inexhaustible supply of money despite never doing any work. One day, Kalamake uses a magic spell to transport Keola to an unfamiliar island where the two of them are invisible to the inhabitants. There he reveals that by burning the leaves of a certain tree, the island's sea-shells can be transformed into coins and the pair transported home. Keola attempts to blackmail Kalamake for a share of his riches, but Kalamake retaliates by abandoning Keola at sea. He is rescued by a passing ship heading for the Tuamotus The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (french: Îles Tuamotu, officially ) are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and ato ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Scribner's Sons
Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Stephen King, Robert A. Heinlein, Thomas Wolfe, George Santayana, John Clellon Holmes, Don DeLillo, and Edith Wharton. The firm published ''Scribner's Magazine'' for many years. More recently, several Scribner titles and authors have garnered Pulitzer Prizes, National Book Awards and other merits. In 1978 the company merged with Atheneum and became The Scribner Book Companies. In turn it merged into Macmillan in 1984. Simon & Schuster bought Macmillan in 1994. By this point only the trade book and reference book operations still bore the original family name. After the merger, the Macmillan and Atheneum adult lists were merged into Scribner's and the Scribner's children list was merged into Atheneum. The former imprint, now simpl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Cowan (New Zealand Writer)
James Cowan (14 April 1870 – 6 September 1943) was a pākehā New Zealand non-fiction author, noted for his books on colonial history and Māori ethnography. A fluent Māori speaker, he interviewed many veterans of the New Zealand Wars. His book ''The New Zealand wars: a history of the Māori campaigns and the pioneering period'' (1922–23) is his best known. Early life Cowan's father was William Andrew Cowan and was Irish. His mother Elizabeth Jane Qualtrough was his father's second wife. They were married in 1866. Cowen was born in East Tāmaki in 1870. He spent his childhood in Kihikihi, on the border of the King Country. The farm was on land confiscated from the Waikato Māori, and contained part of the site of the battlefield of Orakau. Settler militia were based at a military blockhouse close to his home, while there was a considerable Māori community in the area. The young Cowan grew up speaking both English and Māori. He never lost his fascination with Māori cult ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supercargo
A supercargo (from Spanish ''sobrecargo'') is a person employed on board a vessel by the owner of cargo carried on the ship. The duties of a supercargo are defined by admiralty law and include managing the cargo owner's trade, selling the merchandise in ports to which the vessel is sailing, and buying and receiving goods to be carried on the return voyage. The supercargo has control of the cargo unless limited by other contracts or agreements. For instance, the supercargo has no authority over the stevedores, and has no role in the necessary preparatory work prior to the handling of cargo. Sailing from port to port with the vessel to which they are attached, supercargos differ from factors, who have a fixed place of residence at a port or other trading place. History During the Age of Sail from the 16th to the mid-19th century, the supercargo was the second-most important person aboard a merchant ship after the captain. Sweden On ships of the Swedish East India Company (1731–1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Buckland
John Wilberforce "Jack" Buckland (1864–1897), also known as "Tin Jack", was a trader who lived in the South Pacific in the late 19th century. He travelled with Robert Louis Stevenson and his stories of life as an island trader became the inspiration for the character of Tommy Hadden in '' The Wrecker'' (1892).Hadden is described as being based upon Jack Buckland ("Tin Jack") a well-known remittance man and copra trader in Sydney. ''Selected Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson'', ed. by Ernest Mehew (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2001) p. 418, n. 3.''Robert Louis Stevenson: A Critical Biography, 2 vols.'' John A. Steuart, (1924). Boston: Little, Brown & Co.''Treasured Islands: Cruising the South Seas With Robert Louis Stevenson.'' Lowell D. Holmes, (2001 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Copra
Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from copra is rich in lauric acid, making it an important commodity in the preparation of lauryl alcohol, soaps, fatty acids, cosmetics, etc. and thus a lucrative product for many coconut-producing countries. The palatable oil cake, known as copra cake, obtained as a residue in the production of copra oil is used in animal feeds. The ground cake is known as coconut or copra meal. Production Copra has traditionally been grated and ground, then boiled in water to extract coconut oil. It was used by Pacific island cultures and became a valuable commercial product for merchants in the Polynesia, South Seas and South Asia in the 1860s. Nowadays, coconut oil (70%) is extracted by crushing copra; the by-product is known as copra cake or copra meal (30%) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wrecker (Stevenson Novel)
''The Wrecker'' (1892) is an ocean adventure novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson in collaboration with his stepson Lloyd Osbourne that was used sixty-five years later as the basis for an episode of the television series ''Maverick'' (1957) starring James Garner and Jack Kelly (see below). Plot The story is a "sprawling, episodic adventure story, a comedy of brash manners and something of a detective mystery", according to Roderick Watson. It revolves around the abandoned wreck of the ''Flying Scud'' at Midway Atoll. Clues in a stamp collection are used to track down the missing crew and solve the mystery. It is only in the last chapter that different story elements become linked. Stevenson described it as a "South Sea yarn" concerning "a very strange and defective plan that was accepted with open eyes for what seemed countervailing opportunities offered". The book sold well but reviews were mixed, with a ''New York Times'' reviewer concluding that: The loosely connect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
