I have just finished Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. This is one of those iconic stories that everyone seems to already know without anyone ever having read it--myself included. It has been made into film and stage versions countless times. It is really a sort of unassuming story. You don't really get into the mind of Jekyll/Hyde until the very end, and by then he is dead and you only read his explanation's of events after the fact. The action doesn't even really take place in front of your eyes. Everything is told to you second hand. I am not sure what I was expecting. I guess I didn't really have many expectations, but it was still different than I thought it would be--if that makes sense. I expected to just jump into the action, but the story wasn't like that at all. There is an essay by Vladimir Nabokov at the beginning which I skimmed after I read the story (which is good as he rehashed the story in great deal, so nothing at all would have been a surprise had I read it first). The story was written in 1885 after Stevenson had a dream. Apparently his wife, upon reading the first draft, thought it was terrible, so he threw it in the fire and began anew. The version we know now was written in three days (with six weeks worth of revisions). It is a psychological story about the duality of human nature--good vs. evil. I am sure that is an oversimplification, but that's what I got out of it. It was good...I enjoyed it, but to be honest I think I prefer his Treasure Island. I do want to read a bit of criticism, as I am sure there is more to be had from the story that I seem to have gotten! It is also the reading selection for The Algonquin Library Classics group this month, so I am sure discussion will help as well.
Next I am planning on starting Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I have been looking forward to reading this for some time now. As a little supplementary reading I have started (as my next NF after the Buzbee book), Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein by Dorothy Hoobler. I get the feeling that this is not academic in nature (though I checked it out from my university library), but even anecdotal reading about Shelley and the events surrounding her writing Frankenstein will be helpful, I think. I am also still working on Bram Stoker's Mystery of the Sea also. I might just get them both done by the end of the month and finish the challenge!
Not R.I.P. related, but I thought I would mention that I have been watching Daniel Deronda, the film adaptation from George Eliot's novel. It is *good*. I bought the book when Barnes and Noble was having their classics sale. Now I want to start that as well, but it is going to have to wait its turn. I generally prefer to read novels before watching the movie version, but nothing sounded very good from my Netflix queue. After reading Middlemarch earlier this year, it has such a feeling of George Eliot about it--it's sort of weird! It is a long movie, and I hope to get the last part in later. I wonder if all her books are so good?!