I just finished reading "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson. Old "Mr Coffee" sure had some powerful word images.(My siblings and I used to spend many hours playing the card game "authors" when I was growing up. We made up names for the different writers pictured on the cards - probably to help out the younger kids who could not read. Stevenson was "Mr. Coffee", Nathaniel Hawthorne was "Goldilocks", Sir Walter Scott was "Lurch" (From the Adams family)...but I digress.)
I've been long exposed to the general story line of Jekyll and Hyde, but this was the first time I took it all in from start to finish from the original source.
My first encounter with the story line came when I was but a wee mite, watching old bugs bunny cartoon. The episode of Hyde and Hare was quite an amazing production. This was back before cartoons primary function was to sell merchandise. Back in the 50's they were filled with amazing music and often were take offs on serious literature.
I find it interesting that the characters of Jekyll and Hyde have become so incorporated into our culture...even though many people don't know for sure which was the "good" respectable person and which one the depraved monster.
I suppose we all have a bit of facination with the idea that both good and evil reside in each of us, and cannot help but wonder which part of our nature is most likely to rule in the quiet dark when no one is looking.
1 comment:
Glad to see you're working your way through the classics. RLS that is, Not B Bunny, although he is classic too.
I wonder if RLS is still read much today, except for Treasure Island, which, for all its fame is still underrated as a kid's book that people buy for their nephews who don't read it. Shame that. TI is one of the great reads of the last 200 years in my book and also one of the best read-alouds there is. Thrills and chills all the way.
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