Robert Louis Stevenson and the Appearance of Modernism

Despite attracting the admiration of Modernists like Nabokov and Borges, Stevenson remains for many an apologist for the lost world of the romance. This is not only to misread and simplify his fiction, it is greatly to undervalue his lively, forward-looking literary essays. Strenously resisting the authority of the literary 'fathers' (though haunted by the complexities of paternity), Stevenson reveals strong affinities with emergent Modernism. It is from this perspective that Alan Sandison's latest book (the first to appear for nearly thirty years) conducts a lively and readable re-examination of this often underrated writer.