‘Every bit as claustrophobic, creepy and chilling as when it first saw the light of day over a century ago’ — Ian Rankin’s verdict on Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is hard to dispute. This Penguin Classics edition, edited with an introduction by Robert Mighall, brings together that landmark tale with two further stories that showcase Stevenson’s mastery of the Gothic tradition.
Originally published as a ‘shilling shocker’, the novella that gave the world the concept of the split personality follows the respectable Dr Jekyll and his disturbing bond with the ‘damnable young man’ Edward Hyde. A killer stalked through fog-bound London, a city rendered strange and threatening, and a final revelation that cuts to the heart of humanity’s darkest impulses — Stevenson’s tale remains a genuinely unsettling exploration of the evil latent within us all. The two companion pieces are no less remarkable: ‘Olalla’ weaves together vampirism and the horror of tainted bloodlines, while ‘The Body Snatcher’ fictionalises the grim real-world crimes of Burke and Hare.
Robert Mighall’s critical introduction examines class, criminality, and the significance of the story’s London setting, and the edition also includes an essay exploring the scientific contexts of the novel and the cultural development of the Jekyll-and-Hyde idea. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) was born in Edinburgh, the son of a prosperous civil engineer. He began as an essayist and travel writer before the success of Treasure Island (1883) and Kidnapped (1886) established him as a master storyteller. His Calvinist upbringing gave him a lifelong preoccupation with predestination and the nature of evil — themes that animate The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) and The Master of Ballantrae (1893). Readers who enjoy this volume may also wish to seek out James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, available in Penguin Classics.
ISBN 13: 9780141439730
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
