Robert Louis Stevenson, The Ebb Tide

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The Ebb-Tide: A Trio and Quartette

is a novella written by Robert Louis Stevenson in collaboration with his stepson Lloyd Osbourne, during their travels and sojourn in the South Pacific, where Stevenson elected to live out his days. They had first intended it to be a long novel, entitled

The Pearlfisher

, which was to be the second of the “South Sea Yarns” they were working on, the first being

The Wrecker

.

The Ebb-Tide

was first started by Lloyd Osbourne in 1889, then put aside, and finally resumed by Stevenson who eventually decided to make it a much shorter novella in 1893 when he worked on it relentlessly for about five months, progressing slowly and laboriously as he experienced gruelling difficulties with its narrative development and style: “But O, it has been such a grind!…

1972 words

Citation: Gay, Julie. "The Ebb Tide". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 February 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=10953, accessed 24 November 2024.]

10953 The Ebb Tide 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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