Robert Louis Stevenson's 1876 review of Jules Verne's works - did they ever meet?

[John Lamb]

Hello everyone,

please find attached an 1876 review of Jules Verne's works by the then relatively unknown Robert Louis Stevenson who was living in France at the time. Stevenson includes a part review of Mysterious Island (1873), which means he must have read Verne's novel and so it probably influenced Treasure Island (1881) subconsciously or not. 

 Stevenson spent most summers in France for health reasons but also in the artistic enclaves of Paris, Barbizon and Grez. The question is, did Stevenson and Verne ever meet? If so who might have been a mutual friend?

Stevenson gives his opinion on Verne's works and I have also included Verne's later (1895) opinion on Stevenson's Treasure Island  (a year after Stevenson's death in 1894 on the South Sea Island of Upolu). Interestingly Verne also mentions his own forthcoming novel Propeller Island (a recent recurring topic) where the floating island  visits the Opolu and pays homage to Stevenson. 

As some of you  may know, I maintain that Mysterious Island (1873), Propeller Island (1895) and Treasure Island (1881) are all written on a 'literary template' of my home town of Birkenhead and the Wirral Peninsula, so they are all essentially in fiction one and the same. This means that Treasure Island is basically  visiting itself! Quite original (Vernian) when you think about it. 

Stevenson's cousin Sir Graham Balfour lived with him on the South Pacific Island of Upolu until Stevenson's untimely death in 1894.  If you follow the links at the end of the attachment re Stevenson in France then much of the information  (from the RLS website) is gained from his cousin Sir Graham Balfour's biography (1902). 

In 2022 I literally stumbled on Sir Graham Balfour's grave face down ....in Birkenhead, a crowdfunding appeal and help from the Robert Louis Stevenson Society has now restored it. 

Very curious.....best John Lamb

[rfb...@aol.com]

It is generally assumed (see Martin Green's THE ROBINSON CRUSOE STORY for instance) that Stevenson wrote TREASURE ISLAND in reaction to what he saw as Verne's overly didactic style in MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (among others.) Interestingly, presumably due to the increased mapping of the world, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND shifts the antagonists to castaways as pirates rather than natives, which Stevenson's novel took a step further.

Ross

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