Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales of Terror by Robert Louis Stevenson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I was gifted a superb cloth-bound collector’s edition of this book, and was soon struck by several revelations, the first being that I had never actually read it!

So many screen adaptations are there of ‘Jekyll & Hyde� that somewhere along the line my subconscious erroneously made up its own mind on this matter, so to speak.

The second was that it is barely a novella, at around the 25,000-word mark. It is considerably larger than life.

Next � it is not set in Edinburgh! Living here in the Scottish capital, five minutes� walk from the Rest & Be Thankful (featured in Kidnapped), and ten as the crow flies from Stevenson’s former home in the New Town, it came as a surprise to discover that his most celebrated story actually plays out in Victorian London.

Fourth. Jekyll is big and Hyde is small. That said, what the latter lacks in stature he makes up for in malevolence. Indeed, the evil of Hyde, and his shadowy presence, are what feed the plot and make the book a compelling page-turner.

Even in its brevity it succeeds in conveying the progressive agony of Jekyll’s drug-induced transformation to his alter ego, and his horror that he is powerless to resist the creeping tentacles of addiction.

The structure of the narrative is unconventional. There is a protagonist of sorts, Gabriel John Utterson, Jekyll’s lawyer who presents the case almost as a documentary, relying in large part on correspondence left under seal should the worst occur.

In some respects, I actually found the climax a little unsatisfying. I shan’t elaborate, in case, like me, it will be fresh to you. And I would have liked more biographical detail; for example, Edward Hyde arrives fully formed, with little reference to a back story, or even the origin of his name.

Regardless, it feels like a great piece of literary heritage, and I enjoyed taking my time, reading just a few pages each night. There cannot be many such abridged works that have so left their mark (perhaps Of Mice and Men, and The Turn of the Screw).

And in the hall of famous epigrams, its walls lined with the likes of a ‘Catch 22 Situation� or ‘Big Brother is Watching�, arguably the ‘Jekyll & Hyde Personality� takes pride of place.




View all my reviews