Background information

About Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), the author of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, was a Scottish writer of novels, essays, poetry, and plays. He grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he often suffered from childhood illnesses. His father was a lighthouse engineer, and Stevenson himself studied engineering at the University of Edinburgh. However, he soon realized that he had no interest in engineering and announced that he intended to become a writer instead. 

Stevenson became an atheist and moved to London, where he quickly became part of the literary scene. While he was travelling around Europe, he got involved with a married American woman, who was a well-known writer of short stories. Stevenson followed her to California, nearly killing himself in the process, and the pair were eventually marri...