Father Damien: An open letter to the Reverend Dr. Hyde of Honolulu (en Inglés)
Reseña del libro "Father Damien: An open letter to the Reverend Dr. Hyde of Honolulu (en Inglés)"
Sydney, February 25, 1890. Sir, -It may probably occur to you that we have met, and visited, and conversed; on my side, with interest. You may remember that you have done me several courtesies, for which I was prepared to be grateful. But there are duties which come before gratitude, and offences which justly divide friends, far more acquaintances. Your letter to the Reverend H. B. Gage is a document which, in my sight, if you had filled me with bread when I was starving, if you had sat up to nurse my father when he lay a-dying, would yet absolve me from the bonds of gratitude. You know enough, doubtless, of the process of canonisation to be aware that, a hundred years after the death of Damien, there will appear a man charged with the painful office of the devil's advocate. After that noble brother of mine, and of all frail clay, shall have lain a century at rest, one shall accuse, one defend him. The circumstance is unusual that the devil's advocate should be a volunteer, should be a member of a sect immediately rival, and should make haste to take upon himself his ugly office ere the bones are cold; unusual, and of a taste which I shall leave my readers free to qualify; unusual, and to me inspiring. If I have at all learned the trade of using words to convey truth and to arouse emotion, you have at last furnished me with a subject. For it is in the interest of all mankind, and the cause of public decency in every quarter of the world, not only that Damien should be righted, but that you and your letter should be displayed at length, in their true colours, to the public eye. To do this properly, I must begin by quoting you at large: I shall then proceed to criticise your utterance from several points of view, divine and human, in the course of which I shall attempt to draw again, and with more specification, the character of the dead saint whom it has pleased you to vilify: so much being done, I shall say farewell to you for ever. "Honolulu, "August 2, 1889.
Escritor escocés, Robert Louis Stevenson, nacido en Edimburgo el 13 de noviembre de 1850, está considerado uno de los clásicos de la literatura del siglo XIX.
La literatura de Stevenson se centra en novelas de fantasía y de aventuras, dando como resultado una excelente producción que le valdría el éxito popular. Obras como La isla del tesoro (1883), El extraño caso del Dr. Jekyll y Mr. Hyde (1886) o Flecha negra (1888) han sido traducidas a decenas de idiomas y adaptadas al cine, el teatro o la televisión en multitud de ocasiones.
Debido a su frágil salud, Stevenson viajó por el mundo entero en busca de climas más saludables, convirtiéndose en un experto de la literatura y el ensayo de viajes.
Sus últimos años transcurrieron en las Islas Samoa, donde murió el 3 de diciembre de 1894.
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