We are reading The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Please post your impressions and questions in here.
Online copy.
Book Club Procedures
We are reading The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Please post your impressions and questions in here.
Online copy.
Book Club Procedures
I have not had a chance to look for the book so I appreciate reading it online. It is a great choice to read working the NOC shift. Thank You
Very interesting story, I must admit. What do you think, how big would be your Mr. Hyde?
I have read it several times and enjoyed it thoroughly. Not only is it a great story, but I also find interesting the deeper analyses and comparisons that can be made with Freud's psychological theories.
Very good choice, thanks.
Just started reading the story and I am quite taken with this from the Chapter 2:Very interesting way of putting things.Quote:
And the lawyer set out homeward with a very heavy heart.
"Poor Harry Jekyll," he thought, "my mind misgives me he is in
deep waters! He was wild when he was young; a long while ago to
be sure; but in the law of God, there is no statute of
limitations. Ay, it must be that; the ghost of some old sin, the
cancer of some concealed disgrace: punishment coming, PEDE CLAUDO,
years after memory has forgotten and self-love condoned the
fault."
I tried to find the unabridged version but couldn't find it, so I am reading the abridged version which we will be reading for school too.
So far, I am on the second page. I am not finding it very interesting as the writing style is poor. I will have to say that I am not too fond of these abridged versions. These sucks! But better to read something than nothing.
You can read the unabridged version here: http://www.online-literature.com/stevenson/jekyllhyde/
It is not a very long read.
Yay! Thanks for the linky Scher. :D
I thought that it would it not be available on the litnet website and was too lazy to check... *red-faced*
Not sure if I have any Jekyll in me! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by bazarov
I find it interesting that Hyde does not try to destroy Jekyll altogether by getting rid of the formulas and solutions. In the book it is suggested that it is due to Hyde's worry about being sent to gallows but that explanation does not entirely satisfy me.
Re. Freud. I believe that we all have an ID/ego and that we are born 'bad'. The struggle between the inherit bad and learned good will always tear us apart, I think.
Well, I think that Hyde didn't win because all that evil couldn't come out of him through Jekyll because he was always aware of Hyde's threat.
My Hyde is like an apple:D , but I'm just hoping that it will always stay deep in me.
I've always thought this novel to be a triumph of style over substance. Not much in it makes literal sense. Instead the writer suspends belief and taps into a dream-state given weight by his beautiful and suggestive prose. Nabokov writes of its plot devices at length in his "Essays on European Literature". Personally I find its London setting unconvincing. I've always thought the story would have made more sense had it been set in Edinburgh. Jekyll is, after all, a scots name, pronounced Jee-kul.
What is worth noting is the treatment of evil. We are told repeatedly that Mr. Hyde is 'evil' but we are never given any examples of what it is he does that is so bad. Apart from the bizarrely unconvincing nighttime trampling of the matchgirl. And hints of 'unspeakable' acts. This same vageness haunts "The Picture of Dorian Gray" which appeared four years later and shares a similar story, albeit told from a different point of view. Note as you read J&H that Mr. Hyde is smaller and younger than Dr. Jekyll. Because Hyde has so recently come into being. There's much to-do about clothes fitting or not fitting.
The novel has no subplots. Most of the story that people think is in the novel - that fueled the Spencer Tracy movie and the awful musical - fiancees, waitresses, music halls - isn't in the book.
I have wondered about this too as well. Compared to present day 'horror'/'thrillers', it seems so mild (though there is the unrational murder of the MP by Hyde as well). At the moment, I am reading Frankenstein and last year I read Dracula and none of these novels include the gruesome, physical details of 'evil' and 'violence' even though they deal with similar issues. What I find notewothy is that the 'older' horror books concentrate more on the human psychology and its effects whereas the present days are more concentrated on physical aspects and scaring/surprising the reader by details (although I am first to admit that I am not well-read in this genre at all).Quote:
Originally Posted by stemper
Maybe it is a little ray of hope that the innate good is greater in us than the innate evil (hence Hyde's smaller size).Quote:
Note as you read J&H that Mr. Hyde is smaller and younger than Dr. Jekyll. Because Hyde has so recently come into being. There's much to-do about clothes fitting or not fitting.
Not sure it can be called a novel; maybe a novella.Quote:
The novel has no subplots. Most of the story that people think is in the novel - that fueled the Spencer Tracy movie and the awful musical - fiancees, waitresses, music halls - isn't in the book.
its great story for a writer who tell u the details of everything without getting bored
I am not sure if I remember correctly but I thought Mr Hyde committed a murder.Quote:
Originally Posted by stemper
I think it was on someone called Mr Carew.
Yes, you are right. He commited the murder of Danver Carew.Quote:
Originally Posted by ElizabethSewall
So far, I am finding it an okay story, not bad really.