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kidnapped by r.l.s.

Recently, in the back seat of my housemate's car, in a box of books destined for a used-book store, I found this book.

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. Nothing remarkable in the name or author. What caught my attention, and got me to fish the book out, was that I recognized this particular edition of the book (Scholastic Book Services, 1964).

It was the same edition of the book that I received when I was in my first book club, when I was 8 or 9. I didn't actually read it because I found it too difficult for my 8-or-9-year-old brain to comprehend. That's not surprising to me now since, in glancing at it, I see that there's a lot of brogue-like speech, and lots of big words.

It's quite possible that this was the first book that defeated me, and thus caused me to vow never to be defeated again (certainly a Stevensonian sentiment), a contrariness which has led me to be kidnapped by academia, as I work on my doctorate in English literature.

In fact, I read my first--believe it or not--book by Stevenson last semester (The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde), in a Victorian Lit seminar. I liked it quite a lot.

Is it possible that the subject and title frightened me off? Possible, but just as likely it gave me added impetus to keep struggling to read it. Like many 10-year-olds, I was obsessed with, and fascinated by, the idea of being kidnapped. I viewed it, as it is depicted in this book, as a kind of adventure. That obsession and fascination has modified into a dull sort of fear by now, though I don't think it likely I will ever be kidnapped. I am not rich and so would make a sorry prize, and have no plans on traveling in Iraq, though I certainly feel for those who are kidnapped there.

So I have the book, and I have some time. Maybe this is the time for me to read Kidnapped. If so, I'll write a belated review here in this blog.

Posted by jeb at July 6, 2005 9:44 PM | TrackBack