Dreams of Elsewhere by Robert Louis Stevenson & Robert Louis Stevenson

Author:Robert Louis Stevenson & Robert Louis Stevenson [Sawyers, June Skinner & Stevenson, Robert Louis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781906476236
Publisher: Neil Wilson Publishing
Published: 2004-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

Notes

1. Hunter Davies follows in Stevenson's footsteps in his entertaining travelogue, The Teller of Tales: In Search of Robert Louis Stevenson (New York: Interlink Books, 1996). The townspeople of contemporary Monastier 'acknowledge you here,' he writes. 'There's a plaque on a stone slab outside the post office, put there by an American, stating that this is where you started your journey, and the local museum has a 'Salle Robert Louis Stevenson,' which sounds impressive but is very disappointing. It does consist of a whole room, but most if it is bare wall and some dried flowers. The RLS memorabilia amount to a few faded cuttings and photographs, badly framed.' See Davies, p. 82.

2. On the centenary of Stevenson's trip, The Cévennes Journal: Notes on a Journey through the French Highlands was published (Edinburgh: Mainstream; New York: Taplinger, 1979), the first publication of the complete manuscript notebook kept by Stevenson on his journey. It featured Stevenson's original notes, in which he admits, among other things, how cruel he had to be to Modestine to get the beast moving at a regular pace.

3. Our Lady of the Snows, a Trappist monastery visited by Stevenson. Located about a 1/ 4 mile north-east of La Bastide, it is not open to the public but it does host spiritual retreats. (Tel.: 04-66-46-59-00).

4. Michel Eyquem Montaigne (1533-1592), French essayist.

5. Located in Perthshire, in the Scottish Highlands. Site of a famous battle associated with the defeat of John Graham of Claverhouse, the 'Bonny Dundee' of legend, against the Covenanters. See note 6 below.

6. French Protestants. In 1589, Henri IV issued the Edict of Nantes, granting religious freedom to France's Protestant subjects. In 1685, however, Louis XIV revoked it; in essence, denying the Protestants the right to practice their faith. Those Protestants who lived in the Cévennes decided to resist. The Camisard rebellion lasted until the 1790s. Stevenson found much in common between the Scottish Covenanters and the French Camisards.

7. Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), French painter.

8. Matthew 12:14.

9. Lord Byron (1788-1824), Anglo-Scottish poet.

10. Over the years, many travellers have followed Stevenson's footsteps in the Cévennes or have been inspired in other ways. The title of John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, an account of the author's bittersweet journey across America in 1960 with his French poodle Charley, is a case in point. Stevenson's Travels with a Donkey was 'one of Steinbeck's favorite books.' See John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America. Introduction by Jay Parini (New York: Penguin Books, 1997), p. xvii. Interest has not subsided. In 1994, the Stevenson Trail, also known as the GR70, was created during the centenary year of RLS's French sojourn. Several companies continue to organise hikes along the trail. Donkey hires are also available. Based in Le Pont-de-Montvert, France, the Association Sur le Chemin de RL Stevenson 48220 promotes the Stevenson Trail. (Tel/fax: 04 66 45 86 31; www.chemin-stevenson.org).

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