4thace reviewed Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Stevenson, Robert Louis. (Collected works of Robert Louis Stevenson)
Review of 'Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I was interested in how indirect the exposition worked in this novella, which is mostly told from the point of view of the friends of the main character who start out with very little knowledge with his business. The heinous crimes the Mr. Hyde character commits in public are the only pretext they have for intruding upon Dr. Jeckyll's privacy. Basically it is set up like a mystery story where time is running out on putting together the clues as to what is happening and why. There is pathos in the declining condition of Jeckyll, the horror at the bestial qualities attributed to Hyde, the arcane biological experiments being carried out in the laboratory, it crosses over a number of different speculative genres at once.
There are many dialogue sections and journal entries to carry the exposition, just a few rather brief sections of what we would consider actual action. …
I was interested in how indirect the exposition worked in this novella, which is mostly told from the point of view of the friends of the main character who start out with very little knowledge with his business. The heinous crimes the Mr. Hyde character commits in public are the only pretext they have for intruding upon Dr. Jeckyll's privacy. Basically it is set up like a mystery story where time is running out on putting together the clues as to what is happening and why. There is pathos in the declining condition of Jeckyll, the horror at the bestial qualities attributed to Hyde, the arcane biological experiments being carried out in the laboratory, it crosses over a number of different speculative genres at once.
There are many dialogue sections and journal entries to carry the exposition, just a few rather brief sections of what we would consider actual action. The entire last section is presented in the form of journal entries by the doctor which settle the threads of the mystery and giving an outlet to the emotional anguish he has placed himself in. It makes for a good quick story for someone to read who knows only the film and TV dramatizations of it.
