ABSTRACT
Throughout most of the twentieth century, Robert Louis Stevenson has been the subject of less critical scholarship than his literary success during his lifetime would seem to warrant. This lack of scholarship has several causes-Stevenson’s extraordinary character and public life, his reputation as a “children’s writer”, and the lasting perception that his work belonged firmly in the realm of the “popular” and was not, therefore, worthy of serious critical attention. The critical work on Stevenson can be divided into three main categories: early reviews and comments written at the time his works were published; biographical/critical studies popular primarily in the early twentieth century; and the more recent book-length critical studies, some devoted to specific aspects of his work, and others treating the entire Stevenson oeuvre.
