Treasure Island

Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of “buccaneers and buried gold”. First published as a book on 23 May 1883, it was originally serialized in the children’s magazine Young Folks between 1881 and 1882 under the title Treasure Island or, the mutiny of the Hispaniola with Stevenson adopting the pseudonym Captain George North. Traditionally considered a coming-of-age story, Treasure Island is a tale noted for its atmosphere, characters and action, and also as a wry commentary on the ambiguity of morality – as seen in Long John Silver – unusual for children’s literature. It is one of the most frequently dramatized of all novels. The influence of Treasure Island on popular perceptions of pirates is enormous, including such elements as treasure maps marked with an “X”, schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen bearing parrots on their shoulders. Easily accessible, bottom-of-the-page notes provide outstanding illumination of the text s literary and historical contexts, particularly biblical and nautical references that might otherwise elude modern readers. No other edition provides a better insight into the (sometimes murky) compositional processes behind this classic work of fiction. For fans of Sutherland s unique detective-style readings, the appendix of puzzles and conundrums will prove an added bonus. Roslyn Jolly, University of New South Wales Broadview s new edition of Robert Louis Stevenson s classic Treasure Island is an excellent teaching text because of its detailed textual annotations, which help guide readers through the book s nineteenth-century context. As a historian, I appreciate how these annotations, along with the five appendices, place Stevenson s fantasy in context with popular seventeenth- and eighteenth-century textual influences on pirate mythology. John Sutherland finishes the edition with a series of puzzles and conundrums raised by the story; these are bound to stimulate discussion in a seminar setting. Mark Hanna, University of California, San Diego