Author(s): Ian Nimmo (Contribution by); Alan Taylor (Introduction by); Robert Louis Stevenson

Classics

In "Kidnapped" (1886) and later fiction such as "The Master of Ballantrae" (1888), Stevenson examined some of the extreme and contrary currents of Scotland's past, often projecting a dualism of both personality and belief. This dualism is most famous in "Kidnapped," whose two central characters are David Balfour, a Lowland Whig, and Alan Breck Stewart, a Highland Jacobite. The novel revolves around their friendship and their differences, suggesting a metaphor for Scotland itself. Stevenson wrote the sequel "Catriona" with the title David Balfour, but during serialisation in England the public became confused, thinking it might be a reprint of "Kidnapped." At publisher Cassell's request, the title was changed to "Catriona," after Balfour's daughter.