Another book I started for the Edinburgh trip, having never read it before. It's a wonderful tale & a great edition, with 'The Bodysnatcher', a retelling of Burke & Hare, & Olalla, a story about a Spanish vampire, & extract from 'Chapter on Dreaming'. The notes & accompanying essays are also very good. ( )

“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson is a wonderful and suspenseful mystery. It’s about a mysterious man who is suspected of murder, and two men try to find out who he is. There is a well known twist in the plot that makes this story what it is. What I really enjoyed was the lack of information the reader receives as the story progresses, adding to the suspense and mystery. By the time the reader figures it out, he still won’t be able to predict what might happen. People who like the Hardy Boys series and pulp fiction will certainly get pleasure from reading this light novel. GP

The introduction to this book has a great quote: "...Stevenson's story is more known about than actually known..." This was certainly true for me, and ever since enjoying The League of Extra-ordinary Gentlemen*, I had a desire to change that. I finally managed to snag a copy of the tale and read it. As you probably know, it's the tale of a Doctor Henry Jekyll, who concocts a potion that transforms him into Mr. Edward Hyde, an amoral man without restraint. Or perhaps you can say that the potion releases Hyde from the restraint that is Henry Jekyll. At this point I'm supposed to say that it's a classic tale of suppressed desire and social façades--a masterpiece for all times. Or something like that. The truth is, while I enjoyed reading the story, I wasn't overly impressed. Like most people, I imagine, I share Dr. Jekyll's struggle with the darker part of my soul. But it seems that the better solution is just to fess up and ask the good Lord for forgiveness rather than try to cover it up or seek ways to secretly indulge it. Of course, if Dr. Jekyll had done that, it would have made for an even shorter tale. Ah, well....
--J.
______
*A work that takes great liberties with the character, I discovered. ( )

"Jekyll and Hyde" is one of those stories that a lot of people think they know, but relatively few these days go back to the source material and read Stevenson's original story.

The story presents three views of events in the life of Dr. Henry Jekyll. We first meet the lawyer Mr. Utterson who, out walking one evening with his cousin Enfield, sees a violent assault on a young girl. Apprehending the attacker, Enfield and Utterson get him to draw a cheque and pay the family off (some might say this was very unlawyerly behaviour!!). Utterson is surprised to discover the cheque is in the name of his friend Henry Jekyll, whom he hasn't seen for some time and proves to be very elusive when he tries to pay him a visit.

Utterson is also the guardian of Jekyll's will, which in the event of his death or extended disappearance bequeathes everything to someone called Edward Hyde.

Utterson is also drawn to the mysterious, windowless building outside which the assault takes place, believing it has something to do with the attacker. However, his attention is then distracted by the return to society of Jekyll for a couple of months, only for him to suddenly disappear again just before the murder of Sir Danvers Carew. Increasingly concerned for the welfare of his friend, Utterson breaks into Jekyll's laboratory and makes a startling discovery.

We also hear from Lanyon, a medical colleague of Jekyll's with whom he has had a falling on a matter of medical experimentation and ethics. Finally, we get Jekyll's own version of events, and everything falls into place.

As an idea, the story would have been seemed original when it was published in 1886, whilst also tapping into common fears about the nature of good and evil. As a piece of writing, it suffers from Victorian verboseness which dissipates some of the tension the modern reader might otherwise feel, as does the familiarity of the basic premise. This renders the story little more than an interesting curio to the modern eye, rather than singling it out as a great piece of literature. ( )

Although it would be difficult to find someone who doesn't understand the meaning implicit in describing something or someone has having 'jekyll-and-hyde' qualities, few of them would actually have read the original story. Given that 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' only comprises 65-odd pages, and was originally intended as a 'shilling shocker' for the Victorian Christmas market, it has stood the test of time (far beyond expectations) due to its re-interpretation of the Gothic tradition and novel treatment of the then little-understood idea of the what can best, although not entirely accurately, be described as the 'split personality'.
If you think you know what it's about, but have never actually sat down and read it, take the time to sit down and rediscover Jekyll and Hyde. Every time I do, I find something new to appreciate. ( )