It was an indication, no doubt, of Stevenson’s preoccupation with his charming pirate, and an acknowledgment of the character’s paradoxical nature (the title of cook was oddly humanizing for a villain). The name refers to Long John Silver, who serves as the cook aboard the Hispaniola. The change of scenery, which may have also improved his health, brought back the muse. After weeks of trying to find the thread again, Stevenson decamped from Scotland to a small chalet in the Swiss Alps. He couldn’t figure out how to resolve Jim’s story after stranding him on the island. Somewhere around Chapter 15, Stevenson froze up.

THEN HE CAME DOWN WITH A MASSIVE CASE OF WRITER'S BLOCK. Lloyd’s enthusiasm for the story, Stevenson noted, fueled his work. Seized by his idea, Stevenson was able to write a chapter in the morning, then share what he’d completed with his wife, Fanny, and the young Lloyd in the afternoon. His father, a lighthouse engineer, was disappointed that his son didn’t follow in his footsteps, but he still served as his patron and was an enthusiastic collaborator on Treasure Island. He spent time in northern California, New York, the French Riviera and, at the end of his life, Tahiti and Samoa. This meant he was constantly traveling in search of dryer climes beyond his smoky, rain-soaked Scottish hometown of Edinburgh.

Stevenson had been a sickly child who developed weak lungs as an adult (most likely through a congenital disease like sarcoidosis). STEVENSON WAS 31 YEARS OLD, JOBLESS AND FINANCIALLY DEPENDENT ON HIS FATHER.

“The next thing I knew,” Stevenson wrote, “I had some papers before me and was writing out a list of chapters.” 2. Soon, a story began to take shape, along with names like Jim Hawkins, Squire Trelawney, Billy Bones and Captain Smollett. Stevenson sketched an island that resembled “a fat dragon standing up,” as he would later call it in the novel, and began populating it with harbors, hills and bays. Stuck inside one rainy summer day in the Scottish Highlands, Robert Louis Stevenson joined his stepson, Lloyd, at the easel and began drawing pictures. 1.THE IDEA CAME FROM A MAP STEVENSON DREW. It also introduced readers to one of the greatest villains in all of literature: the one-legged, parrot-wearing Long John Silver. But with its richly drawn characters, vivid prose and moral complexities, it became the defining work of that genre, and a classic to boot.

First published in a weekly literary magazine between 18, Treasure Island wasn’t the first novel about a boys’ fantasy of fighting murderous Buccaneers. It’s one of the most enduring adventure tales of all time-a coming-of-age story featuring swaggering pirates, sea battles, and a quest for buried treasure.

Treasure island characters