144 pages
English language
Published July 15, 2003
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1886. The work is also known as The Strange Case of Jekyll Hyde, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, or simply Jekyll and Hyde. It is about a London legal practitioner named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll, and the evil Edward Hyde. The novella's impact is such that it has become a part of the language, with the vernacular phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" referring to persons with an unpredictably dual nature: outwardly good, but sometimes shockingly evil.
I think this was possibly ruined by Jekyll and Hyde being such a defining work and now well known trope. No doubt it was amazing for the time.
If I could somehow read it without that context I imagine I would have enjoyed it a lot more. As it is, it’s a passable horror with plenty to read into the themes.
A bit disappointing overall, though.
A charming example of the style, best read as you would a Sherlock Holmes mystery , as the initial readers would have.
Jekyll and Hyde started strong but got slower and slower the longer the story goes. Especially the ending explaining everything by several letters was rather repetitive and thus a bit boring. I think I'll stick to today's Hulk.
So short, yet beautifully written.
In my opinion the entertaining potential of this story suffers significantly from the fact, that Stevenson dedicates two thirds of the book to the construction of a mystery that is actually not a mystery to anyone anymore.
When Stevenson dramatically reveals in the last third of the book that Hyde and Jekyll are one and the same person, that doesn't really come be a surprise to any contemporary reader.
Still I found the book was worth reading. Stevenson is a great story teller and I like his straight forward and unpretentious language.
It is also interesting to think about the many different possible interpretations of the Jekyll-Hyde-metaphor. The most straight forward reading might be among the lines, that it represents a fight between the morally good and evil elements in human nature.
But there is also a more psychological (although probably anachronistic) reading, that takes Jekyll as a poetic depiction …
In my opinion the entertaining potential of this story suffers significantly from the fact, that Stevenson dedicates two thirds of the book to the construction of a mystery that is actually not a mystery to anyone anymore.
When Stevenson dramatically reveals in the last third of the book that Hyde and Jekyll are one and the same person, that doesn't really come be a surprise to any contemporary reader.
Still I found the book was worth reading. Stevenson is a great story teller and I like his straight forward and unpretentious language.
It is also interesting to think about the many different possible interpretations of the Jekyll-Hyde-metaphor. The most straight forward reading might be among the lines, that it represents a fight between the morally good and evil elements in human nature.
But there is also a more psychological (although probably anachronistic) reading, that takes Jekyll as a poetic depiction of a person that is struggling with either schizophrenia or a bipolar disorder.
In my opinion it is especially this openness to interpretation, that makes Stevenson's book timeless in a way and thereby justifies it's place in world literature as well as in contemporary pop culture.
I wish I could have read this without knowing in advance what I'm sure you know as well since it is about as secret as Clark Kent being Superman.
That said, the second half in which "all is revealed" is significantly less interesting than the first half which is suspenseful and spooky. I know endings are hard and thus forgive RLS but it still could have been shorter and less preachy and didactic.
It's Jeckyll and Hyde, so even though I just read it for the first time, I don't know how to rate it all clouded with expectation as I was.
This is an okay book; brief and clearly written with an original premise. Had I read this fresh and new with no knowledge of the plot, however, I don't imagine I would have found it suspenseful or terrifying in the least.
