ENGL-2130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Louis Stevenson, Hashish
11 Nov 2016
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Poor health as a child, earned accolades early for his writing. Smoked hashish and visited edinburgh brothels with friends. Appeased his father by earning a law degree, though he refused to practice. Was supported by a small allowance from his father, yet traveled extensively and wrote travel books. Fin de si cle: term applied to 1890-1900: a transitional period when artists abandon old ideas and attempt to discover new once. Art was disconnected form religious mores; art for art"s sake. Literary naturalism: social conditions, environment, heredity determinism, human outcome. Criticism of proper victorian values such as family, patriarchy, capitalism etc. Search for new was to titillate and entertain. Inspired by stevenson"s nightmare, seen ant the window. He began the novel next morning, finished 30,000 word sensationalistic poe-like story in three days. His wife persuaded him to revise it as an allegory, i. e. include a clear moral; he burned the first draft and wrote another in three days.
