Stevenson as a Reader of French Literature

This chapter examines Stevenson’s essays on French literature in relation to the development of the novel across national and generic boundaries. It begins by demonstrating how Stevenson situates himself within this literary evolution in his essays on French authors like Victor Hugo, Jules Verne and Alexandre Dumas. It then examines how his essays on realism from the 1880s function as responses to French literary debates over Realism and Naturalism. It ends with an analysis of Stevenson’s reading of popular, non-canonical, and emerging French writers and how this reading relates to his interest in generic innovation that merges plot-centric storytelling with stylistic sophistication. The chapter is divided into three sections: ‘Stevenson’s French Essays’; ‘Stevenson, Realism and Naturalism’; ‘Reading for Pleasure’.