The Lords of Hermiston
The Lords of Hermiston ( Weir of Hermiston ) is an unfinished novel by Robert Louis Stevenson published posthumously by Chatto & Windus in London in 1896 . Many literary critics consider this work to be Stevenson's most mature literary achievement. It is dedicated to his wife Fanny .
To the work
The action is set in Edinburgh and the surrounding area and takes place at the time of the Napoleonic Wars . The protagonist is Archie Weir, the son of Lord Chief Justice Adam Weir, whose role model is the notorious "executioner" Robert MacQueen Lord Braxfield (1722–1799). After a public criticism of his father, Archie is banished to the Hermiston family estate, where he falls in love with the niece of the housekeeper Kirstie (Christina). At the time of the appearance of a shady rival, the recording of the novel breaks off. The continuation of the action emerges from Stevenson's correspondence: the rival seduces the young girl, and in the ensuing argument between him and Archie Weir he is killed. Archie's father, the Lord Chief Justice, leads the investigation and has to recognize the perpetrator in his own son. The otherwise tough man breaks down when he realizes that he must condemn his son to death. The end of the novel must remain open. Stevenson would probably not have chosen a happy ending because he had expressed the view that a tragic novel must end tragically.
There are two female characters in the book called Kirstie: Archie's mistress is sensitively described as a woman who is willing to go against all convention .
Influence on pop culture
In 1969 Jack Bruce sang the song Weird of Hermiston , the title of which is a corruption of the novel's title .
literature
- Weir of Hermiston: An Unfinished Romance (unfinished novel, ed. 1896); German: The Lords of Hermiston (1927); Diogenes, Zurich, new edition June 1999, ISBN 978-3-257-20702-6 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Reinbold: Robert Louis Stevenson , Rowohlt, Reinbek 1995, ISBN 3-499-50488-X , p. 134 ff.
- ↑ Text by Jack Bruce