The Black Arrow - Couverture souple

Stevenson, Robert Louis

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0486418200 ISBN 13 : 9780486418209

Editeur : Dover Children's, 2003

A propos du livre

Biographie de l'auteur

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. His most famous works are Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. An only child, strange-looking and eccentric, he found it hard to fit in when he was sent to a nearby school at age six, a problem repeated at age eleven when he went on to the Edinburgh Academy. His frequent illnesses often kept him away from his first school, so he was taught for long stretches by private tutors. He was a late reader, first learning at age seven or eight. He compulsively wrote stories throughout his childhood. His father was proud of this interest and paid for the printing of Robert's first publication at sixteen, an account of the covenanters' rebellion, which was published on its two hundredth anniversary, The Pentland Rising: A Page of History, 1666 (1866). In November 1873, after his health failed, he was sent to Menton on the French Riviera to recuperate. He returned in better health in April 1874 and settled down to his studies, but he returned to France several times after that. He qualified for the Scottish bar in July 1875 and although his law studies would influence his books, he never actually practised law. In 1890 he purchased a tract of about 400 acres in Upolu, an island in Samoa. Here, after two aborted attempts to visit Scotland, he established himself, after much work, upon his estate in the village of Vailima. He took the native name Tusitala (Samoan for "Teller of Tales", i.e. a storyteller). His influence spread to the Samoans, who consulted him for advice, and he soon became involved in local politics.

Présentation de l'éditeur

When the publishers asked for a successor to Treasure Island, Stevenson turned to the period of the Wars of the Roses as a setting for a tale of adventure frankly written for youthful readers. The only preparation a boy needs for enjoying "The Black Arrow " is some slight acquaintance with Shakespeare or Walter Scott; nay, if he have but skimmed the briefest history of the brave old medieval times, and knows what a part in them the long-bow and the cross-bow played, and what a salet is, and what a lance, he will need no further introduction to this tale of the early days of Richard Crookback—a tale "retold" (like that of the search for buried treasure) "exactly in the ancient way." Or if the telling differ from that to which he is accustomed, it will be because Mr. Stevenson writes with a pen so much more graphic, poetic, and incisive than the ancient chroniclers. Not content with weaving a plot that shall hold the reader spell-bound, he perfects his style with such care that not a superfluous or an ill-fitting word is to be found from start to finish.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Dover Children's
• Date d'édition: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0486418200
• ISBN 13: 9780486418209
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 240