Monday, January 11, 2016

The Classics - CLOSING LINES: The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson



"Will Hyde die upon the scaffold? Or will he find courage to release himself at the last moment? God knows; I am careless; this is my true hour of death, and what is to follow concerns another than myself. Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end." (Published 1886)

 
I love the classics and plan to alternately share some "CLOSING lines" over the coming months. Comment if you wish, or read for inspiration. Writing styles were different then, or were they really?

22 comments:

  1. What a great ending! I really should read this someday, and am not sure why I haven't yet. It's always sounded like an excellent story!

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    1. Boy, it sure is different. I never thought to read it until now.

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  2. Written back in the day when an external narrator directed the story. Not done much today. It would be interesting to read it from Jeckyll's POV.

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  3. Still love this book to pieces. Happy New Year! :)

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    1. Thanks! Wishing you a good year too. Have never read this but hope to.

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  4. They loved to have the narrator front and center, and I still enjoy reading in that style. I mean, really, we all know there's a writer behind the scenes in modern stories, and we just pretend there isn't. A story well told is all I ask, and that can be in any style, even what we now consider archaic.

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  5. This would never make it past a traditional publisher, although the Book Thief is similar. The narrator is 'death' but of course it's really the author's voice. As you said, if the story is told well, the writing style shouldn't be a hindrance.

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  6. I haven't read it for ages, but it was a great book. He also has some great short stories. "Thrawn Janet" is a scary one and a good one for a minister to read.

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    1. Ooh, another to add to the list. Curious now about "Thrawn Janet." Thanks Dennis!

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  7. I have seen movies but I have never read the book...I will have to remedy this. I just taped the silent version with John Barrymore to watch

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    1. Oh, wow. A silent version with John Barrymore. Be sure to blog about this later. Thanks Birgit!

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  8. Thanks Sharon, powerful words ... reminds me of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray' - two characters inhabiting the same body.

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    1. Which is another strange story. I wonder if the younger generation still reads Dorian Gray in school. Thanks Susan!

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  9. The words people used and the way they expressed their thoughts were far more poetic and slow paced. It's fascinating to read. Even newspapers from the early 1900s are so fascinating to read because the reporters made choices reporters would never make today!

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  10. Definitely interesting to read newspapers from that period, and magazine articles too. It almost feels like time travel to me. I've spent hours in the library doing this type of research for nonfiction, but great for fiction too. Thanks Stephanie!

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  11. I voe Stevenson. He's powerful in hs storytelling, and Dr Jeckyll is no different :-)

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  12. And a story that's one of a kind too. Thanks for commenting Sarah!

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  13. Here's the closing line from "Thrawn Janet" (written mostly in a Scots dialect): "But it was a sair dispensation for the minster; lang, lang he lay ravin' in his bed; and frae that hour to this, he was the man ye ken the day."

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    1. Scottish dialect would take a certain ear to read. Does not sound like a happy ending. Thanks for sharing.

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  14. There's an example of how we don't have to answer all the questions, just tie up the story. Nice.

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    1. Oh, that's so true. It leaves the reader with something to thing about. The best kind of book. Thanks!

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You could call me an eternal optimist, but I'm really just a dreamer. l believe in dream fulfillment, because 'sometimes' dreams come true. This is a blog about my journey as a writer and things that inspire and motivate me.