Treasure Island

Inhoud

Treasure Island is Rober Louis Stevenson's classic tale of pirates and pirate gold. The story takes hold of the imagination from the first pages, in which we are introduced to the young narrator Jim Hawkins, who discovers a treasure map in the sea-chest of the murdered pirate, Billy Bones. Jim joins Doctor Livesey and squire Trelawney to form a partnership to search for buried pirate treasure. The presiding genius of their crew is the one-legged pirate turned sea cook, Long John Silver. Long John is cunning and bloodthirsty, without a shred of consience. But his buoyant humor and vitality are irresistible. He is but one of a marvelous cast of characters that includes old Blind Pew, Black Dog and Ben Gunn, to name just a few.

Bespreking

Still fresh and kicking

The story of Treasure Island takes place during the glorious 18th century, when seamen still sailed the oceans in search of wealth and fame. The most feared enemies were the sea pirates. Young Jim Hawkins discovers a treasure map in the sea-chest of the murdered pirate, Billy Bones. Jim joins Doctor Livesey and Squire Trelawney to form a partnership to search for buried pirate treasure. The presiding genius of their crew is the one-legged pirate turned sea cook, Long John Silver. Long John is cunning and bloodthirsty, without a shred of conscience. But his buoyant humour and vitality are irresistible. Their sea voyage turns out to become quite perilous when the first rumours of mutiny are being whispered on board of the Hispaniola.

The point about classics such as Treasure Island is that you cannot doubt the relevance of such a book, since it is still popular more than 120 years after it was first published (1883). Hundreds of books following Treasure Island have used the image of the pirate Long John Silver and made it a universal type. Ask anyone to picture a pirate and in nine out of ten cases you will get something closely resembling Long John.

The strongest quality of Treasure Island is that it is still surprisingly fresh. It has a pace that can stand comparison with any contemporary novel. Stevenson did not add a lot of moralising to the story, which is quite remarkable for a coming of age story dated from that period. The character of Long John suffers clearly from a certain machiavellian duality, a topic that will return more prominently in Stevenson's later work: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.