Very interesting to hear the back story. I didn't know about the Looney Tunes versions, must check them out. The story itself is a cracker: very deep. It's a pity that all the films (that I'm aware of) seem more like comedies in the over-the-top way they treat it.
I read this for the first time last year and was floored. It absolutely forces you to think about our own self, and the work we do to control our ‘baser’ impulses (as well as why we control ourselves-for moral or social purposes?). Planning on it being my next reread after my current Sherlock Holmes binge (and I feel like an appropriate one to read after Holmes, there has to be a mashup of the two somewhere in the world). Loved learning about the background of writing it-I had no idea!
Coincidentally, Sherlock Holmes was also a cocaine addict! I’ve never read many of the Holmes stories—just a handful—but Streatfeild mentions that Arthur Conan Doyle had Holmes injecting himself several times a day in some stories. The drug had far less stigma than it does today, and intravenous use was the most common then.
They’re all worth reading to some extent I think. Perfect cozy fall reads. And he does! Watson eventually succeeds in breaking him of the habit, but the worry is always there for Watson that he’ll relapse. Surprisingly ‘modern’ picture of addiction/difficulties of overcoming it
My pleasure! I also just read The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. I’ll be reviewing that one in a week or two. I wonder if you ran into that one in your horror classics binge.
Fascinating. Reading this today had it front of mind in conversation today about the “dark urge” play option of the Baldur’s Gate game. In the game, every time you refuse to take a “dark urge” option, the next check against it becomes more challenging. So, it raises interesting questions about the quandary of the lesser of two evils, where perhaps you give in now to avoid a more catastrophic result later.
Exactly! Imagination and fiction are great for exploring "what-if" scenarios without (hopefully) doing much damage to reality. You could argue the whole sci fi genre ties back to that premise in one way or another.
I love the history of the classic stories and learning about the struggles some endured to do their work. I have a novel I’m revising, but I probably won’t resort to cocaine to do it! Thanks for this article. Well researched and well written.
Good luck on your revisions! And thanks for the note on the article. I read the story in Streatfeild’s book back in 2002 or so. It popped back in mind last week, so I read Stevensons’ book. What a story!
Oct 7, 2023·edited Oct 7, 2023Liked by Joel J Miller
The beast is within all of us... Stevenson's tale brings to mind a much older saga:
"For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
Some day, I need to secure a copy of Prayers Written at Vailima.
I thought of that passage, while I was reading the story. Stevenson was an atheist, but his maternal grandfather was a preacher—a minister in the Church of Scotland. I bet Stevenson was well aware of the passage as well.
Source for Twain on OT/NT “God, so atrocious in the Old Testament, so attractive in the New--the Jekyl [sic] and Hyde of sacred romance.”- Notebook, 1904
“And the tale invites many angles of analysis and appreciation: psychological, theological, spiritual, social, literary, and more.”
Re Jekyll & Hyde Mark Twain wrote something like:
Stevenson had it wrong, for the two persons inside a man are wholly unknown to each other and can never in this world communicate with each other in any way.
Also, Hyde and Jekyll are the God of the Old and New Testaments, the split personality defined….
Gosh, it's ages since I read this, but I do remember the realism of it, that this man did become a baser character and couldn't control those instincts. It's a very moral story, I think. I hate that the films make him 'just' a scary monster, rather than another side to all of us.
Very interesting to hear the back story. I didn't know about the Looney Tunes versions, must check them out. The story itself is a cracker: very deep. It's a pity that all the films (that I'm aware of) seem more like comedies in the over-the-top way they treat it.
I’d never read it until now and was deeply impressed. It’s a fantastic story.
I read this for the first time last year and was floored. It absolutely forces you to think about our own self, and the work we do to control our ‘baser’ impulses (as well as why we control ourselves-for moral or social purposes?). Planning on it being my next reread after my current Sherlock Holmes binge (and I feel like an appropriate one to read after Holmes, there has to be a mashup of the two somewhere in the world). Loved learning about the background of writing it-I had no idea!
Coincidentally, Sherlock Holmes was also a cocaine addict! I’ve never read many of the Holmes stories—just a handful—but Streatfeild mentions that Arthur Conan Doyle had Holmes injecting himself several times a day in some stories. The drug had far less stigma than it does today, and intravenous use was the most common then.
They’re all worth reading to some extent I think. Perfect cozy fall reads. And he does! Watson eventually succeeds in breaking him of the habit, but the worry is always there for Watson that he’ll relapse. Surprisingly ‘modern’ picture of addiction/difficulties of overcoming it
Opium too, I believe
"She dutifully read through it and rendered her verdict: No good." -- This made me laugh. They must have had a really interesting relationship!
I've actually never read this story, but after reading this, I'm going to make it my book of October!
I don’t know much about their relationship, but from what I have read he was devoted to her.
I did a 'horror classics' reading binge a couple of years ago and this was one of the books. Thanks for sharing the background of its writing!
My pleasure! I also just read The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. I’ll be reviewing that one in a week or two. I wonder if you ran into that one in your horror classics binge.
No I haven't! Consider it ordered lol.
Loved this post. Tough editing love from his wife! I wonder how different the two drafts were. Maybe the second draft really was much better.
I suspect it was. The first draft was probably just a warm up at bat. Practice swing :)
Fascinating. Reading this today had it front of mind in conversation today about the “dark urge” play option of the Baldur’s Gate game. In the game, every time you refuse to take a “dark urge” option, the next check against it becomes more challenging. So, it raises interesting questions about the quandary of the lesser of two evils, where perhaps you give in now to avoid a more catastrophic result later.
The way the book presents that dilemma is exactly the other way. By giving in the little ways with Hyde, Jekyll loses the ability to control himself.
I had not thought of it framed that way, but yes. I think Stevenson's version is truer to the human experience.
The cool thing about fiction is that you can run the scenario either direction. It gives you a chance for thought experimentation.
Exactly! Imagination and fiction are great for exploring "what-if" scenarios without (hopefully) doing much damage to reality. You could argue the whole sci fi genre ties back to that premise in one way or another.
Totally.
I love the history of the classic stories and learning about the struggles some endured to do their work. I have a novel I’m revising, but I probably won’t resort to cocaine to do it! Thanks for this article. Well researched and well written.
Well, save it as a last resort :)
Good luck on your revisions! And thanks for the note on the article. I read the story in Streatfeild’s book back in 2002 or so. It popped back in mind last week, so I read Stevensons’ book. What a story!
The beast is within all of us... Stevenson's tale brings to mind a much older saga:
"For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
Some day, I need to secure a copy of Prayers Written at Vailima.
I thought of that passage, while I was reading the story. Stevenson was an atheist, but his maternal grandfather was a preacher—a minister in the Church of Scotland. I bet Stevenson was well aware of the passage as well.
This was very illuminating for me: Prayers of an Atheist? https://johannapolus.medium.com/prayers-of-an-atheist-e6e6dacfa362
That’s fascinating. Thanks for sharing!
Fight writer’s block 1800’s style! PS I love John Singer Sargent paintings.
Yeah, psychedelics seem much more 21st century. And, yes, those paintings are fantastic!
Source for Twain on OT/NT “God, so atrocious in the Old Testament, so attractive in the New--the Jekyl [sic] and Hyde of sacred romance.”- Notebook, 1904
Thanks for the reference!
You wrote:
“And the tale invites many angles of analysis and appreciation: psychological, theological, spiritual, social, literary, and more.”
Re Jekyll & Hyde Mark Twain wrote something like:
Stevenson had it wrong, for the two persons inside a man are wholly unknown to each other and can never in this world communicate with each other in any way.
Also, Hyde and Jekyll are the God of the Old and New Testaments, the split personality defined….
I cannot recall the source.
Interesting, though I’d differ with both Twain and the OT/NT interpretations.
The Old and New Testament thought was Twain's also.
Gosh, it's ages since I read this, but I do remember the realism of it, that this man did become a baser character and couldn't control those instincts. It's a very moral story, I think. I hate that the films make him 'just' a scary monster, rather than another side to all of us.
Yes, the book rewards a deeper look. It’s a revealing look at human nature.
Yes, indeed. His decision to underexplain leaves so many interpretations and applications open for exploration. It’s an amazingly rich little book.