Record Number: 12851

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Louis announced that he had written something he wanted us to hear. When we had taken our seats round the centre table he stood before us with a manuscript in his hand...then in his deep voice vibrant with emotion, with heightened colour and blazing eyes he read aloud the 'Father Damien Letter.' Never in my life have I heard anything so dramatic, so magnificent. There was deep feeling in every sentence - scorn, indignation, biting irony, infinite pity - and invective that fairly scorched and sizzled. The tears were in his eyes when he finished. Throwing the manuscript on the table he turned to his wife. She who had never failed him, rose to his feet, and holding out both hands to him in a gesture of enthusiasm, cried: 'Print it! Publish it!'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1890 and 31 May 1890

Country:

Australia

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Sydney, Australia
specific address: Oxford Hotel

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Robert Louis Stevenson

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

13 Nov 1850

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

Church of Scotland

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

Australia

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

Fanny Stevenson (wife); Isobel Field (step-daughter)

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Robert Louis Stevenson

Title:

Father Damien, an Open Letter to the Reverend Dr Hyde of Honolulu

Genre:

Essays / Criticism

Form of Text:

Manuscript: Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

12851

Source:

Print

Author:

Isobel Field

Editor:

n/a

Title:

This Life I've Loved

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1937

Vol:

n/a

Page:

245

Additional Comments:

Memoir of Stevenson's step-daughter, Isobel Field (previously Strong, nee Osbourne).

Citation:

Isobel Field, This Life I've Loved (London, 1937), p. 245, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=12851, accessed: 23 September 2023

---

Additional Comments:

'Father Damien, an Open Letter to the Reverend Dr. Hyde of Honolulu' was privately printed by Stevenson in May 1890