Stevenson and Pleasure (Asls Occasional Papers)

‘In the life of the artist there need be no hour without its pleasure’—Robert Louis StevensonThis volume explores how pleasure – sensory, intellectual, and aesthetic – influenced Robert Louis Stevenson’s work, and its reception. Engaging with a range of critical and theoretical perspectives, the contributors examine Stevenson’s representations of pleasure as a recurring theme across his essays, fiction, and travel writing, as well as later adaptations. They also consider how his writing invites affective and interpretive pleasures that are at once personal and communal, ethical and escapist. Structured around bodily and mental pleasures, creative processes, and intertextual or intermedial engagements, these essays reposition pleasure as a vital lens for understanding Stevenson’s literary practice and enduring appeal.