Robert Louis Stevenson: “The Isle Of Voices” (Brief Story).-

 Robert Louis Stevenson: “The Isle Of Voices”:

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General Overview: Robert Louis Stevenson: “Folklore and Imperialism” (*):

Oliver Buckton in his book, Cruising with Robert Louis Stevenson: Travel, Narrative, and the Colonial Body (2007) argues that in  “The Isle of Voices,” Stevenson merges realism and romance into a hybrid genre “to expose the shabbiness of European civilization” and its commercial ruthlessness. Certainly, Stevenson’s folkloric fiction crosses both generic and national boundaries, dazzling the reader with fairy visions of foreign lands while at the same time testing complacent notions of British cultural dominance. (5) Stevenson’s South Sea stories, “The Beach of Falesa” and “The Isle of Voices,” underscore the unstable power dynamics of British imperialism operating between the “natives” and the Europeans. Further undercutting assumptions of British authority, The Master of Ballantrae displays the conflicted cultural core of the British Empire–divided between the familiar rationalism of England and the exotic supernaturalism of not only India, but Scotland as well. These texts disclose cross-cultural tendencies toward so-called superstition and thereby erode the orderly pretensions of British rule by denying its supposed civilized solidarity; rather than emerging as a queen of reason and progress, Victoria becomes another fetish. This essay reveals how folklore operates as an unstable tool of cultural power that evades any definite colonial containment, simultaneously serving as a subversive weapon against both the imperialists and the colonized.

(*): Journal article by Jason Marc Harris; English Literature in Transition 1880-1920, Vol. 46, 2003.-

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Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (1850 / 1894).-

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Extracts of “The Isle Of Voices”: 

“In this world we only need a little courage”.

“No other island has these voices. These voices and fires are always on the beach. A man could live a thousand years by the lagoon and never be bothered by these voices. If you leave these devils alone, they do not harm you”.

“It was clear something important was happening. There were no fires and the shells were not vanishing. The voices continued moving up the beach and they sounded very angry… Keola did not know why but he started to run with the voices. Then he saw the place on the island where the magic trees grew. The voices were moving towards them. Then he heard the sound of axes… Ocassionally, Keola saw an axe held by invisible hands strike the men of the tribe”…

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Read this Story:

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/stevenson/robert_louis/s848in/part7.html

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Source Post: Stevenson; Robert Louis. The Isle of Voices and The Plague Cellar. Buenos Aires. Artes Gráficas Rioplatenses (Libros Bilingües Clarín. Tomo VII). 2008.-

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Links Post:

http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=LJLC05NvrBRWLqJKdgQMGLh2jGdtKj3lpxKvFYkbMPFbJ1Fp5239!-1129964214?docId=5002558672

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/stevenson/weltman.html

http://www.slainte.org.uk/cilips/publications/scotauth/stevedsw.htm

http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/authors/about_robert_stevenson.html

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LOL: Droopy (So Happy…):

 

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Relaxing Time: “A Cup of Tea, Please”:

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Teatro: “Chau Ranita”: 

 

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En el marco del Ciclo de Teatro a la gorra, la Agrupación Artística San Fernando pone en escena la pieza “Chau Ranita”. Esta obra teatral trata de un cruce de rutas con su ritmo inaccesible para el amor de dos seres como tantos de nuestro Buenos Aires. Es una comedia dramática en la que los personajes aman, juegan, evocan, se violentan y se divierten en una lucha lúdica, interrumpida por golpes de realismo hipercrítico, sobre un escenario quizás tan despojado como sus vidas.

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(Teatro Martinelli. Sábado 7/6/08. 20.30 hs).-

Link: http://www.sanfernando.gov.ar/tipo1.asp?IdSeccion=7&IdContenido=194

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