Robert Louis Stevenson, "The Bottle Imp"

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 Feb 1891 - Apr 1891

Places

United Kingdom (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)
United States (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Story

Resources

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“The Bottle Imp” is a short-story or more specifically, a tale Stevenson had intended as “the centre-piece of a volume of

Märchen

” (

Letters

4: 168) entitled

Island Nights’ Entertainments

, which was also to include “The Isle of Voices”. The idea for the tale first came to Stevenson on his 5-month trip to Hawaii in 1889, and it is believed that he wrote the first draft there. He then polished it on his return to Samoa, between December 1889 and January 1890, and sent it to his editor Samuel McClure in November 1890. It was first serialised in the New York

Herald

from February to March 1891 and in England in

Black and White

, from March to April 1891. It was then translated into Samoan by the Revd. Arthur E. Claxton, and published under the title “O Le Fagu Aitu” in the…

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2031 words

Citation: Gay, Julie. ""The Bottle Imp"". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 May 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39029, accessed 16 April 2024.]

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