1. Robert Louis Stevenson and his difficult relationships with his father, by Elodie He was born in Edinburgh on November 13 th 1850 into a Presbyterian family. He had many conflicts with his parents: -- His father wanted him to be a lighthouse engineer, like him and like his grandfather. But RL Stevenson did not have a scientific mind: he preferred literature and travelling. -- His father didnt want him to be a writer: he considered this job as a waste of time and idleness. -- His father obliged him to study law. -- He had a love affair with a prostitute that he wanted to marry. Scandal in the family! -- He became agnostic. His father flew into a temper! -- He fell in love with Fanny Osborne. She was already married, she had 2 children and was ten years older than him. She was an artist. His father disapproved of their relationship. -- His father stopped giving him money and sometimes he was "all alone on forty- five cents a day, and sometimes less. Quote from"The Amateur Emigrant ».The Amateur Emigrant -- Eventually, Fanny Osborne made father and son reconcile… Thomas Stevenson in 1880

2. (see also the 6th presentation in folder landscapes and local heritage: RL Stevensons journey alongside Languedoc-Roussillon) Like his mother, Robert Louis Stevenson had a deficient health, and he travelled a lot during his life in search of a place where he could finally recover from illness. He had tuberculosis. In 1873, Stevenson underwent treatment in Suffolk. In December, 1878, he had pleurisy. His disease did not allow him to leave the tropical climates where he had settled down with his wife, Fanny and her 2 children. He died on December 3rd, 1894 after a stroke. His health By Ludivine

3. FANNY OSBORNE, by Myriam Fanny Vandergrift was born in 1840 in the USA. She married Samuel Osborne at the age of 17. They had 3 children: Isabel, Samuel and Hervey. Her husband worked in the silver mines of Nevada. He went with saloon girls and was not very serious. Fanny left him and went to Europe with her 3 children. Hervey died of tuberculosis at the age of 5 in Paris. She met RLS in Paris in 1876. As RLS was in love with her, she left for the USA. She was in two minds: either to stay with her philandering husband or to accept RLS love. Finally they married in 1880 in San Francisco. She was 10 years older than him. The couple settled in Upolu in the Samoa Islands. She was like a nurse for her husband, spending nights at his bedside… When RLS died, on 3 December 1884, Fanny returned to California. Later, she lived with a man ten years younger, Ned Field. After her death Ned Field wrote: She was the only woman in the world worth dying for. She was buried in the grave next to Stevenson on top of Mt Vaea in Western Samoa.

4. Alison Cunningham, by Laurie In his early childhood Robert Louis Stevensons parents hired a nursemaid: Alison Cunningham, affectionately nicknamed Cummy. She played the part of a mother and a nurse. She was very affectionate, very kind to him, and she spent long nights beside him while he was ill, or coughing. She introduced him to literature. She read a lot to him: for example: episodes from the Bible or The Pilgrims Progress (John Bunyan), Shakespeares works, but also dark and morbid stories about Scottish Presbyterian martyrs. She is at the origin of Stevensons taste for nice words, adventure stories with fantastic events. The Treasure Island (1883), his first big success is dedicated to Fanny Osbournes son, Lloyd, who inspired the idea of the island, its mysteries and its treasure.

5. The central character is Jim Hawkins, whose mother keeps an inn near the coast in the West Country. Jim meets an old pirate, Billy Bones, who has in his possession a map showing the location of Captain Flint's treasure. Bones dies after a second visit of his enemies. Jim, his mother, and a blind man named Pew open Bones's sea chest and finds an oilskin packet, which contains the map. Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, Jim, and a small crew with Captain Smollett sail for Treasure Island. « The Treasure Island », summary by Laurie

6. Jim discovers that the crew of the Hispaniola includes pirates, led by a personable one-legged man named Long John Silver, the cook of the ship but also a pirate in search of the treasure. Jim, hidden in an apple barrel, overhears the plans of the crew to mutiny, and he warns his comrades. On a journey to the island interior, Jim encounters Ben Gunn, former shipmate of the pirates. The battle between the pirates and Jims party is an exciting and bloody one. After several adventures the pirates are defeated, and finally the victors get safely aboard the ship with the treasure. Jim and his friends sail back to England. Long John Silver manages to escape, taking as much gold as he can carry. Continued…

7. Stevensons passion for travels by Lucie Stevenson suffers from tuberculosis, so he remains in bed for long periods. But he liked travelling. He travelled all his life in search of places to heal his disease. His taste for travels developed a talent for the imaginary. Expatriation also explains the taste of the author for romantic and adventure novels.

8. PLACES Between 1862 and 1863: 5 months on the continent: Germany, Austria, Italy and France. In France he spent winter several times in Menton, by the Mediterranean Sea. 1868: Anstruther and Wick with his father ( north-east coast of Scotland) 1870: 3 weeks on a small isle in the Hebrides 1872: stayed for some time in the Hebrides. 1873: went back to England, in Suffolk, where he met Sydney Colvin, who introduced him into literary 1874: Scotland and London 1875: France: Barbizon and Grez, near Fontainebleau where he met Fanny Osborne. 1876: France: he travels on the inland waterways from Antwerp (Belgium) and Pontoise( north of Paris). 1877: London and Paris: he buys there a flat-bottomed ship which he uses as his accomodation. September – October 1878: France: travels with a donkey in the Cévennes 1879: USA: New York. Travels across the United States to meet Fanny in California. 1881: Scotland and Switzerland 1882: France: Marseilles and Nice (Mediterranean Sea) 1883: France: stays 16 months in Hyères ( Mediterrranean Sea), then goes to a thermal spa: Royat 1884: England: Bornemoth, in a cottage called « Skevryvore » 1886: Paris 1887: The USA, by Lake Saranac, New York 1888: San Francisco and a journey in the Pacific Ocean on board « the Casco »: The Marquise Islands, Tuamotu, Papeete (Tahiti) 1889: USA: Honolulu; The Gilbert Islands, the Samoa Islands ( where he buys an estate in Opulu and where is was buried at Mount Vaea) Stays a few monts in Australia 1890: Travels in the Pacific Ocean: the Gilbert and the Marshall Isles, New Caledonia 1881: Australia: Sydney

9. South Pacific Ocean