Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - (Vintage Classics) by Robert Louis Stevenson (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Robert Louis Stevenson's thrilling tale of the mild-mannered Dr. Jekyll and his evil double, Mr. Hyde, is one of the most famous horror stories in English literature. It is also a profound and fascinating fable of the divided self that continues to seize readers' imaginations. This story of a misguided genius who brings his doppelgänger to life brilliantly dramatizes inner conflict and the capacity for violence and evil in every soul. An instant sensation on its first publication in 1886, Stevenson's spine-chilling novella has given rise to countless adaptations on stage and screen over the past century, but none can match the power and dark complexity of the original.

From the Back Cover

A good man takes a potion that turns him into a freak of pure evil. A reasonable scientist is transformed - through the agency of science itself - into the living embodiment of unreason. Like the vampire and the werewolf, the sundered personae of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have worked their way into our collective unconscious, expressing both our ambivalence with science and our deepest questions about what is knowable in human nature.

About the Author

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (1850-1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer who spent the last part of his life in the Samoan islands. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, The Master of Ballantrae, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.