Extract: 1) STORY OF THE DOOR MR. UTTERSON the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable. At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste, something eminently human beaconed from his eye; something indeed which never found its way into his talk, but which spoke not only in these silent symbols of the after-dinner face, but more often and loudly in the acts of his ...
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Extract: 1) STORY OF THE DOOR MR. UTTERSON the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable. At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste, something eminently human beaconed from his eye; something indeed which never found its way into his talk, but which spoke not only in these silent symbols of the after-dinner face, but more often and loudly in the acts of his life. He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years. But he had an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy, at the high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove. 2) "I incline to Cain's heresy," he used to say quaintly: "I let my brother go to the devil in his own way." In this character, it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men. And to such as these, so long as they came about his chambers, he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour. Robert Louis Stevenson, n� le 13 novembre 1850 � �dimbourg et mort le 3 d�cembre 1894 � Vailima (Samoa), est un �crivain �cossais et un grand voyageur, c�l�bre pour son roman L'�le au tr�sor (1883), pour sa nouvelle L'�trange Cas du docteur Jekyll et de M. Hyde (1886) et pour son r�cit Voyage avec un �ne dans les C�vennes (1879). Stevenson est parfois consid�r� comme un auteur de romans d'aventure ou de r�cits fantastiques pour adolescents, mais son oeuvre a une tout autre dimension: il a d'ailleurs �t� salu� avec enthousiasme par les plus grands de ses contemporains et de ses successeurs. Ses nouvelles et romans manifestent en effet une profonde intelligence de la narration, de ses moyens et de ses effets. Il exploite tous les ressorts du r�cit comme la multiplication des narrateurs et des points de vue, et pratique en m�me temps une �criture tr�s visuelle, propice aux sc�nes particuli�rement frappantes. Mariage En 1879, malgr� l'opposition de sa famille, il part rejoindre Fanny Osbourne en Californie. Partant de Glasgow le 7 ao�t, il atteint New York le 18 et retrouve Fanny � Monterey, apr�s un voyage en chemin de fer. En mars 1880, il manque de mourir d'une pneumonie et ne doit son salut qu'� l'attention de Fanny, qui se d�voue six semaines � son chevet. � peine r�tabli, il l'�pouse le 19 mai � San Francisco et ils partent en lune de miel, accompagn�s du fils de Fanny, Lloyd. Cette lune de miel, qu'ils passent � Calistoga en Californie dans une mine d'argent d�saffect�e, est relat�e dans Les Squatters de Silverado et publi�e en 1883. Entre 1880 et 1887, Stevenson voyagea beaucoup en �cosse, en Angleterre, s�journa � Davos, cherchant un climat b�n�fique � sa sant� et o� il b�n�ficie des soins du docteur Karl R�edi. Il passa deux ans en 1883 et 1884 � Hy�res dans un chalet appel� Solitude. Il �crivit alors: Ce coin, notre jardin et notre vue sont subc�lestes. Je chante tous les jours avec Bunian le grand barde. Je r�side pr�s du Paradis. Plus tard, il �crivit Heureux, je le fus une fois et ce fut � Hy�res En 1887, apr�s le d�c�s de son p�re, il partit aux �tats-Unis, o� il fut accueilli par la presse new-yorkaise comme une vedette, � la suite du succ�s de L'�trange Cas du docteur Jekyll et de M. Hyde (1886). Il passa l'hiver dans les monts Adirondacks pour soigner sa tuberculose, et d�cida au pri
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