Robert Louis Stevenson, "The Beach of Falesa"

Julie Gay (Université de Poitiers)

Ed. by Grace Moore, University of Otago
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Jessica Gossling (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1892

Places

United Kingdom (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story

Resources

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The Beach of Falesá

is a novella written by Robert Louis Stevenson based on his experience in the Samoan archipelago, where he elected to live out his days. In fact, although it was originally meant to be part of a collection of stories set on an imaginary island called Ulufanua (

Letters

3: 334), the work was actually inspired by a superstitious fear Stevenson experienced when cutting a path through the wild and uncanny forest around his house, named Vailima, in 1890: “[it] just shot through me like a bullet in one of my moments of awe, alone in that tragic jungle. […] It is very strange, very extravagant, I dare say” (Letters 3: 238-39). On the other hand, he repeatedly insisted on the story’s realistic depiction of life in the Pacific islands. This work indeed marked an…

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2315 words

Citation: Gay, Julie. ""The Beach of Falesa"". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 May 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39028, accessed 24 April 2024.]

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