Robert Louis Stevenson, Literary Networks and Transatlantic Publishing in the 1890s

An investigation of R. L. Stevenson and the geographies of his literary networks

Focusing on an author characterised by geographical and aesthetic mobility, and on those who worked with him or wrote for him, 'Robert Louis Stevenson, Literary Networks and Transatlantic Publishing in the 1890s' investigates the operations of transatlantic literary networks during a period of key changes in transatlantic publishing through a series of critical case studies.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Literary Networks and Transatlantic Publishing in the 1890s investigates Stevenson and the geographies of his literary networks during the last years of his life and after his death. It profiles a series of figures who worked with Stevenson, negotiated his publications on both sides of the Atlantic, wrote for him or were inspired by him. Using archival material, correspondence, fiction and biographies it moves across these literary networks. It deploys the concept of ‘literary prosthetics’ to frame its analysis of gatekeepers, tastemakers, agents, collaborators and authorial surrogates in the transatlantic production of Stevenson’s writing. Case studies of understudied individuals and broader consideration of the networks they represent contribute to knowledge of transatlantic publishing in the 1890s, understanding of transatlantic culture, Stevenson studies, current interest in the workings of literary communities and in nineteenth-century mobility.