Robert Louis Stevenson His life and work”. Group: Written by: Supervisor: Tashkent 2023

Conclusion.
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was born November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland and was the only child of respectable middle-class parents. His father, Thomas, belonged to a family of engineers who had built most of the deep-sea lighthouses around the coast of Scotland. His mother, Margaret Isabella Balfour, came from a family of lawyers and church ministers.Throughout his childhood, Stevenson suffered chronic health issues which confined him to his bed. These illnesses, frequently described as a “weak chest”, persisted throughout his life, taking the form of fevers, coughing, bronchial infections, and eventually the “Bluidy Jack”, a hemorrhaging of the lungs. As a result of his persistent poor health, Stevenson had a limited formal education. Instead he was typically educated by private tutors and nannies, none so beloved as Allison Cunningham, whom he nicknamed “Cummy.” Cummy would regularly read to him from the Old Testament, Catechisms, and Bunyan’s Pilgrim Progress. This somewhat isolated childhood led to the development of a healthy imagination through which dreams of being a writer developed. In 1867, Stevenson entered the University of Edinburgh as a science student where it was understood he would follow in the family tradition to become a civil engineer and join the family building firm. However, Stevenson was disinterested in the courses and turned his attention to French literature, Scottish history, and the revolutionary works of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. In addition to a diversion in his studies, he also began to develop a more bohemian appearance, growing his hair long and wearing a velvet jacket when about town. He also developed more atheist beliefs, diverging from those of his parents, and began spending more time in the lounge of the Speculative Society – a group for orators and writers at the university. When Stevenson finally confided to his father that he did not want to become an engineer and instead wanted to pursue writing, his father was, understandably, upset. They eventually agreed that a professional degree was needed and so Louis would study law. During summer holidays, Louis would go to France to be in the company of other young artists, writers, and painters. There he worked on essays and, upon returning to Europe, spent much of his time writing book reviews and articles while experimenting with short stories. His first published work, an essay called Roads, and his first published volumes were works of travel writing. In 1875, Louis left university having “passed advocate” and earning a law degree. Never planning to practice law however, he continued to write – always keeping two books with him “one to read, and one to write in.”