Robert Louis Stevenson Accomplishments

One of the most famous writer of the literary world, Robert Louis Stevenson is known for his

timeless children’s classic Treasure Island. As a child, Stevenson was always curious and

fascinated by events that only existed in his imagination. When he started writing, he poured

his imagination to cast beautiful poems and writings. Treasure Island and The Strange Case of

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are Stevenson’s greatly admired literary works.

Once, when he was away on a family trip to Scotland, he drew a map of mythical island. That

map drawn during leisure to entertain his 12-year old son became a premise for the biggest sea

adventure of all times, Treasure Island. At first, the chapters of this story appeared in the

children’s

He admitted that his first

critical success Treasure Island was inspired by the works of other literary contributors such as

Edgar Allan Poe’s MS Found in a Bottle, (a manuscript telling the adventures of an unknown

sea-man) and The Gold-Bug (a fascinating tale of buried treasure). In his letter to Sir Sidney

Colvin, an English curator and literary critic, Stevenson acknowledged that the idea of the dead

man’s chest was drawn from Kingsley’s At Last. Also, the history of a drunkard and suspicious

pirate Billy Bones was constructed from the writings of his favorite writer Washington Irving.

The beautiful blend of colorful and poetic prose sets apart the tale of piracy and boyhood

adventure from other adventure books.

In 1950, Walt Disney Productions transformed this classic literary work to an enchanting

cinematic experience. Byron Haskin directed a 96 min pirate movie Treasure Island that set the

standard for every sea adventure movie for the years to come. The admirable performances by

Robert Newton, Bobby Driscoll and Basil Sydney created an unmatchable movie experience for

the audience of that era. Robert Newton’s subtle and groundbreaking performance as