2009 Reading #10: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

[snurri]

1. Family Circle: The Boudins and the Aristocracy of the Left by Susan Braudy
2. The Sea-Hawk by Rafael Sabatini
3. From the Files of the Time Rangers by Richard Bowes.
4. A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
5. Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural by Jim Steinmeyer.
6. The Days of Rondo by Evelyn Fairbanks.
7. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
8. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.
9. The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson.

10. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Kind of cheating to count this as a book, but then this isn't really about keeping score so much as keeping track. This is one of those works I should have read a long time ago; it suffers from the fact that I know it so well by reputation. The suspense of the story hinges on the reveal, which is unfortunately the one thing we all know about it. Hyde is not so terrifying as one might have come to believe, from films or comics or what have you; he's a shrunken creature, reflecting the proportion of evil to good in Jekyll's basic nature. (I wonder if the hulking Hyde in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen* was Alan Moore's extrapolation of the growing evil weighing upon Jekyll's soul.) The story is interesting in that it is told mostly in the third person, whereas the other works in this collection were all in first; I think the story suffers by not having been told by Jekyll himself. If nothing else, it got me thinking about Jekyll and Hyde characters that have followed, the Hulk being the most obvious. I'd be curious to hear others that y'all can think of.

* Now I've read the stories of all the main characters of TLoEG except for Allan Quatermain.

Comments

[justinhowe.livejournal.com]

psst... you gotta fix the post, then let's talk.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Oops, sorry. Fixed!

[justinhowe.livejournal.com]

I like the structure of J & H, but would agree that it's probably not the best from a critique standpoint. I love the fact that it starts with two minor characters talking about a door. Also, Mr. Utterson is one of my favorite characters ever. Curious too about the reveal, does the story work now that it has become so ingrained in history? I did for me, but I like Stevenson probably more than is healthy.

Would you say Jekyll and Hyde is an updated version of a werewolf story? With the wolfman created by science gone awry?

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I feel like I've been pretty hard on Stevenson overall; I guess it's because I find his structural approach somewhat bewildering. I did like the way Jekyll and Hyde started, but since one of the characters talking about that door ended up having little to do with the narrative and the other is never part of the action in a significant way, I felt like it was something that didn't pay off.

But then, I am, as I think has probably been established, very very picky.

I'm not sure I'd say this was an updated version of a werewolf story, but they do tread the same ground--the beast in the man, the monster in the mirror. I think there's endless material there.

[tim-pratt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I seem to recall there's a line in League to the effect that the Hyde part kept getting bigger while the Jekyll part kept shrinking. It's a pretty good story, Jekyll & Hide. You should read "Further Developments in the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Kim Newman. (It's funny, and actually posits a non-SF/supernatural explanation for the events in the story).

[snurri.livejournal.com]

It's been a while since I re-read the Moore, so I should check it out. And thanks for the rec!

[mrdankelly.livejournal.com]

King Solomon's Mines is excellent fun, but be prepared for some nasty racial talk (though Haggard/Quatermain makes a point of his respect for Africans; you'll see).

TSCoDJaMH is one of my favorites from long back. I love how Stevenson refuses to describe Hyde, merely saying he's somewhat "simian" or that there was something ineffably wrong about his appearance. Moore was taking off on what Stevenson said about the character, re: Jekyll shrinking and Hyde growing. A fine book. I love that it was based on a dream.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that it was based on a dream. Do you know what the dream was specifically? I'm curious if it was a certain image or what.

I agree that it was wise of him not to go in a specific direction with the description of Hyde; I can think of a lot of ways that could have gone wrong.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

Hey, don't forget The Portrait of Dorian Gray and Tom Sawyer! :P

I never actually saw the movie. Hopefully I never will.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Well, I've read the Twain, anyway.

I know someone who loves that movie. I fear for her sanity.

[secritcrush.livejournal.com]

That was not even the first clue celia is insane.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

This is certainly true.

Nyah!

[secritcrush.livejournal.com]

Kind of cheating to count this as a book

Just because back in the day they knew how to write a novel without padding doesn't mean you should dis the short novel.

Re: Nyah!

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Is it even that, though? It can't be greater than novellette length, if that.

Double Nyah!

[secritcrush.livejournal.com]

You must be reading some wackadoodle abridged version - the project gutenberg copy has an actual (not ms) of 26k, which makes it a novella or my preferred term, short novel.