Treasure Island

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Treasure Island , cover of Charles Scribner's Sons 1911 edition
Treasure Island map

The Treasure Island , English original title Treasure Island , is the best-known novel by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson . It tells of the obstacle-rich search for a buried pirate treasure - a popular topic of such adventure novels  - and became popular primarily as a book for young people , but also through its more than twenty film adaptations.

Emergence

Stevenson wrote his first sketches and reflections on Treasure Island in Davos , Switzerland. During his spa stay in 1880/1881 he had enough time to do this. The following summer, during a period of bad weather in Braemar , Scotland , Stevenson suffered from a severe cold, had to give up his hiking and instead occupied himself with his stepson Lloyd Osbourne . He helped him paint: “On this occasion I made a map of an island. [...] The shape of this island stimulated my imagination enormously. There were docks that delighted me like sonnets, and with the awareness of a destiny I called my product 'Treasure Island'. ”The drawing of a treasure map provided the inspiration for Stevenson's first novel, which he wrote for little Lloyd and dedicated to it. The information about which of the two started drawing the treasure map, however, is contradictory.

It was first printed in the period from October 1, 1881 to January 28, 1882 as a multi-part edition in Young Folks' magazine . The English first edition in book form appeared in London in 1883, a German translation for the first time in 1897. Originally the novel was supposed to be called " The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys ". According to Stevensons, characters and motifs are influenced by Daniel Defoe , Edgar Allan Poe and Washington Irving , among others .

action

Jim Hawkins overhears the pirates, illustration by George Roux
Jim Hawkins finds Ben Gunn, illustration by George Roux
Silver finds Allardyce's skeleton, illustration by George Roux
Jim Hawkins and the Treasure, illustration by George Roux

An old seaman, William “Bill” Bones, is staying in the rural English inn “Admiral Benbow” near Bristol . Jim Hawkins , the first-person narrator of the novel and son of the innkeeper couple, is on the lookout for the drunkard Bones for a one-legged man whom he apparently fears. One night, when Bones is visited by a sailor called The Black Dog , the two of them have a terrible argument. After the Black Dog has fled, the blind beggar Pew appears at Bones and hands him a piece of paper with a " black spot " on it, which means his removal. Shortly thereafter, Bones collapses dead after a stroke . That same night, Pew and his cronies raid the inn. Jim and his mother can save himself at the last moment, not without first secretly taking a package from Bones' seaman's chest. Inside is the map of an island where the treasure of the infamous pirate Captain Flint is said to be. Jim Hawkins shows the map to his fatherly friend, Doctor Livesey , and the squire and justice of the peace John Trelawney , who then decide to go on an expedition to that island. Jim is also supposed to travel as a cabin boy. The Hispaniola serves as an expedition ship under Captain Smollett . Later it turns out that, without knowing it, some members of Captain Flint's former pirate crew were also hired, above all the one-legged ship's cook Long John Silver . Jim Hawkins, sitting in an apple barrel, happened to overhear the conspirators' plan to mutiny and murder the skippers after the treasure was recovered.

Arriving off the coast of the island, Jim gets into one of the boats that the pirates use to go ashore. He begins to explore the island on his own. He meets a sailor named Ben Gunn , who was abandoned three years ago and who was previously a member of Flint's crew. The situation came to a head after the former pirates armed themselves and the skippers had to hide in a fenced-in log cabin built by Flint . Some of the pirates are killed in an attack, but the besieged also suffer losses. Jim, who found the log cabin and told the doctor, Squire Trelawney and Captain Smollett about his encounter with Ben Gunn, left again after the attack on his own initiative. He manages to return to the Hispaniola unnoticed by the pirates who have gone ashore, to cut their anchor hawser and let the ship drift away to prevent it from falling into the hands of the pirates. While exploring the ship, he meets Israel Hands, who is seriously injured in an argument with one of his companions, who first helps him to beach the schooner in the northern bay, but then wants to murder him with a knife. Jim narrowly escapes him, climbs into the shrouds of the ship and shoots his pursuer.

Then he returns to the island and makes his way back to the log cabin. To his horror, he only met Silver and his pirates there. Silver prevents Jim from being killed immediately, but is supposed to be removed from office. But when, to the astonishment of Jim Hawkins, he pulls out Flint's treasure map and shows it to the others, they all start looking for the hiding place. Jim is tied up and dragged along. On the way they find the skeleton of the sailor Allardyce, who was murdered by Flint, who shows the direction to the location of the treasure with outstretched arms. However, the pirates are disappointed to find that the treasure was found a long time ago. When they angrily want to take revenge on Silver and Hawkins, shots are fired: The ship's command was ambushed with Ben Gunn. Some of the pirates can flee, only Silver stays behind with Jim. It turns out that over the years Ben Gunn has already found the skeleton and treasure and brought much of it to safety. So it was safe for the doctor to give Silver the map. The expedition participants load the treasure onto the Hispaniola and go home with Ben Gunn and Silver.

On the way back, after a stopover, Silver managed to escape from the ship with part of the treasure. Ben Gunn observed this but did not reveal anything for fear of Silver. The rest of the treasure will be shared among the loyal sailors. Gunn later used his share relatively quickly in taverns . Jim Hawkins, however, uses his share to secure his professional training and vows never to return to the island, even though some of the treasure is still there.

characters

  • Bill Bones (also Billy Bones ) - The novel begins with the arrival of the older sailor at the Zum Admiral Benbow inn . He is rather silent, stingy and can only be addressed as "captain". Every day he goes to the coast to look for ships, armed with a cutlass, and pays Jim Hawkins to report to him if he sees strange sailors. He should pay particular attention to a one-legged sailor, of whom Bones seems to be afraid and whose name he does not mention. It later turns out that this is John Silver. Bill Bones drinks large amounts of rum in the dining room in the evenings. When he's drunk, he becomes talkative, but also irascible and brutal. His stories and behavior in this state, as well as his scar on his cheek and his constant armament with a cutlass, suggest that he might have been a pirate once. But this hardly scares off the guests in the inn. On the contrary, they feel entertained and word gets around in the whole area. His alcohol consumption eventually gave him two strokes, and he died of the latter.
As the novel progresses, it is revealed that Bones was the helmsman and one of the closest confidants to Captain Flint. After his death he came into possession of the treasure map. Some allusions indicate that he subsequently became captain, which the crew, and especially Silver, refused to accept. When he noticed this displeasure, he secretly left the ship with the card before his removal. Bones also has a reputation for scarcely lagging behind Flint in cruelty. Silver later mentions that many feared him and only one, Pew, was able to give him the black mark as a sign of deposition.
  • Jim Hawkins is the narrator of the story and thus the actual main character. He is about 17 years old while the Treasure Island events take place. He lives with his parents in England and helps out in their inn, Zum Admiral Benbow . After the death of Billy Bones and the discovery of the treasure map among his belongings, he is taken as a cabin boy on the voyage to Treasure Island. His high spirits and thirst for adventure often put him in dangerous situations.
  • The Black Dog , whose real name is not mentioned in the novel, was a pirate and a member of Flint's crew. He locates Billy Bones in Admiral Benbow and thus reveals his hiding place. He has a conversation with Bones that ends in a loud argument with fighting. The black dog is injured in the process, but can escape at the last second. Bones suffers his first stroke. Jim Hawkins later spots the Black Dog in John Silver's pub Zum Fernrohr . The black dog then flees and his pursuit remains in vain. Towards the end of the novel it is mentioned that the Black Dog was also chosen by John Silver as a crew member to be hired on the Hispaniola . His travel was thwarted because Hawkins recognized him.
  • The blind Pew is a member of the pirates under Captain Flint. Pew initially poses as a former soldier who has lost his eyesight in the service of his kingdom and now has to eke out his life as a beggar in order for Jim Hawkins to help him. In fact, however, he lost his sight to the same broadside that cost Long John Silver his leg. When Hawkins reaches out to Pew with his arm to guide him, he shows his true character by almost breaking his arm and threatening to scratch his eyes out if he doesn't bring him to Bill Bones. There he hands Bones the black spot, which has caused him to be deposed as captain. The former members of Flint's crew later discover when they search for the treasure map that soldiers are arriving to capture them. Thereupon they flee and leave behind the blind Pew, who runs wildly and disoriented in front of two galloping horses and is trampled to death. Silver later mentions that Pew was one of those people who couldn't handle money and who only had to beg and murder their lives all their lives .
  • Squire John Trelawney is a wealthy squire from the Black Hill area , where Hawkins grew up. He is described as extremely sociable and adventurous, but also too good-natured and talkative. After Jim reveals the treasure map to him, he is immediately ready to cover the costs of an expedition to Treasure Island. He also has the furniture destroyed by the rampaging pirates at Admiral Benbow replaced with new ones and lets Jim and his mother live in the manor house during the renovation work.
Because of Trelawney's loquacity, word quickly gets around in Bristol that the cruise should go to a treasure island. This is also learned by John Silver, who offers the Squire his help in choosing the crew for the ship Hispaniola , which Trelawney is happy to leave him. The crew members selected by Silver were already on the ship of the pirate captain Flint, which Trelawney was to find out much later. Only the smaller portion of the Hispaniola crew , which Trelawney himself selected, are loyal men.
Trelawney showed excellent leadership and discipline when he learned that the former pirates, led by John Silver, are planning a mutiny. Trelawney turns out to be the best shooter.
  • Dr. David Livesey is the Black Hill area doctor . He is the family doctor for the Hawkins family and a good friend of the Squire Trelawny. Reluctantly, he also takes care of Bill Bones' health, but he detests him. Livesey warns Bones against further alcohol consumption because otherwise he would suffer a premature death from another stroke. Shortly afterwards, Bones dies after another stroke.
Apart from Trelawny, only Livesey is present when Jim Hawkins presents the treasure map. In contrast to Trelawny, however, he is extremely prudent and careful when planning the trip, in which he is to take part as ship's doctor. In the course of the plot, his experiences from the Battle of Fontenoy benefit him. He turns out to be a kind of father figure for Hawkins on several occasions. For those parts of the novel in which Hawkins was not present, Livesey acts as the first-person narrator.
  • Long John Silver is a former member of Flint's crew. As a young man he lost a leg: it had to be amputated after it was broadside, and he now needs a crutch to walk. By his own admission, John Silver is the only one Flint has ever feared. Bill Bones was afraid of him too. Unlike the other previous pirates on the Hispaniola, he is extremely intelligent. After Bones' removal, he is appointed captain of old Flint's crew.
  • Captain Smollett is the Hispaniola captain hired by Squire John Trelawney. In contrast to Trelawney, he is extremely skeptical of the expedition to Treasure Island. He does not trust the team, which was mostly put together by the ship's cook John Silver, as it later turns out rightly. He attaches great importance to discipline. After an initial dislike of one another, Smollett and Trelawney become close allies in the fight against the mutineers as the novel progresses.
  • Israel Hands was a member of Flint's crew and later a boatswain on the Hispaniola. When Jim Hawkins releases the Hispaniola from the anchor, he meets the wounded Hands there. When he tries to murder Hawkins with the knife, he is shot by the latter.
  • Ben Gunn was also a member of Flint's crew. Years later, when he passed Treasure Island on a merchant ship, he revealed his knowledge of the treasure on the island. Since the crew could not find the treasure, Ben Gunn was left alone on the island, where he found the treasure after years of searching. Three years later he meets Jim Hawkins, helps him and the ship's command against the mutineers and receives part of the treasure and the journey home to England.

reception

The novel was Stevenson's first financial success. Its impact, including on the critics, is comparable to that of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe , Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland . Various book editions are provided with drawings by the French graphic artist Georges Roux (1850–1929), who also illustrated numerous novels by Jules Verne . In 2012, Andrew Motion wrote a sequel called Silver. Return to Treasure Island . The television series Black Sails tells the story of the story that precedes the novel and tells how Captain Flint and his crew came into possession of the treasure.

Film adaptations (selection)

The first film adaptation was made in 1912.

Audio productions

Radio plays

In Germany and Austria at least ten radio plays were produced based on the novel.

Audio books

literature

expenditure

The current printed version of the German translation is named (excluding any licensed editions). The year of translation is given in brackets.

Secondary literature

  • Robert Louis Stevenson: A brazen plagiarism . Ed .: Andreas Nohl. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-446-24460-3 (The history of Treasure Island in four articles).
  • Francis Bryan: Jim Hawkins and the Treasure Island Curse . Scherz , Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-502-10080-2 (English: Jim Hawkins and the Curse of Treasure Island . 2001. Translated by Hans Link).
  • Alex Capus : Traveling in the light of the stars . A speculation. 1st edition. Knaus Verlag , Munich 2005, ISBN 978-3-8135-0251-0 (The Swiss author puts forward the thesis, like a novel, that the island of Tafahi is the real treasure island, and that Robert Louis Stevenson himself recovered and was the legendary church treasure of Lima , which was stolen in 1821 thus achieved immeasurable wealth. Alex Capus based his thesis on analyzes by Walter Hurni, originally the treasure was assumed to be on the Cocos Island of the same name off the coast of Panama ).
  • Captain Charles Johnson , David Cordingly (introduction and commentary): A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates . Lyons Press, Guilford (Connecticut) 2002, ISBN 1-58574-558-8 (English: "The text in this book is taken from the 1925 edition of Captain Johnson's History. This was the third edition of the book and was an updated version of the original 1724 edition with three more pirate biographies added to the original thirteen. After much discussion it has been decided to add the biography of Captain Kidd which appeared in the two-volume 1726 edition. "- P. xiv. Reprint. 3rd ed. originally published: Kensington: Printed & sold by Philip Saintsbury at the Cayme Press, 1925.).
  • RF Delderfield , HP Savoy cabbage (Illustrator): The Pirates of Treasure Island . Blüchert, Hamburg 1961 (Original title: The Adventures of Ben Gunn, 1956. Translated by Ingeborg Ramseger, Jim Hawkins tells the story of Ben Gunn, which he told him, explaining how the treasure came to the island and Ben Gunn was abandoned there ).
  • John Goldsmith: The Return to Treasure Island . vgs , Cologne 1987, ISBN 3-8025-5046-3 (English: Return to Treasure Island . Translated by Uta Haas).
  • Oliver Kellner, Ulf Marek: Seewolf & Co., Robinson Crusoe, Lederstrumpf, David Balfour, Mathias Sandorf, Tom Sawyer - the big four-part adventure series by ZDF . Schwarzkopf and Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2005, ISBN 978-3-89602-632-3 (first edition: 1999, expanded new edition).
  • Björn Larsson: Long John Silver . The adventurous report about my free life and my way of life as a soldier of fortune and enemy of humanity. Goldmann -Taschenbuch 45185 (before 44617), Munich 2001, ISBN 3-442-45185-X (Swedish: Long John Silver . 1995. Translated by Jörg Scherzer , an invented autobiography).
  • Arthur Douglas Howden Smith (1887–1945), Gerhard Lahr (Illustrator): Porto Bello Gold . Kinderbuchverlag , Berlin 1985 (English: Porto Bello Gold . Grosset & Dunlap, New York NY 1924. Translated by Paul Baudisch, a fictional history of how Captain Flint steals the treasure and brings it to the island, German first edition by Kiepenheuer , Potsdam 1925).
  • Heinrich Rosemann: The pirate captain . W. Fischer-Verlag , Göttingen 1963 (continuation in which Jim Hawkins returns to Treasure Island).

Others

Pirate's House Inn (2015)
  • In the US state of Georgia , in an inn in the city of Savannah , the Pirate's House Inn , built in 1734 , the pirate Captain Flint is said to have died longing for " more rum ... " and haunted around as a ghost. The process and the place are mentioned in the book, but the specific restaurant is not.

media

Discography

  • All the music from the ZDF four-part series “Die Schatzinsel”, CD 2002, BSC-Music, Prudence 398.6629.2
  • The running wild album Pile of Skulls from 1992 contains the song Treasure Island , which is based on Treasure Island .

DVD

  • 2006 - Die Schatzinsel , double DVD with the ZDF four-parter, Concorde Home Entertainment, No. 2289 (only the German synchronization is included)

Computer games

comics

  • In addition to classic comic versions, a new interpretation of the material is currently being released under the title “Long John Silver” by Xavier Dorison, illustrated by Mathieu Lauffray. The three volumes “I - Lady Vivian Hastings”, “II - Neptune” and “III - Das Smaragdlabyrinth” have been published in German by Carlsen Verlag .

TV series

  • The American series Black Sails is based on Treasure Island. The events take place around 20 years before the novel's plot.

theatre

Screenwriter and playwright Christoph Busche wrote a theatrical version of the novel, which premiered on June 1, 2017 at Theater Kiel (Theater im Werftpark). The Kieler Nachrichten described Astrid Großgasteiger's production as an "open-air spectacle [...] with action and fun".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ My first book . In: Treasure Island . Zurich 1979, p. 314 f
  2. ↑ Lloyd Osbourne later claimed that he started the drawing himself, but that his stepfather refined it and gave it its name. See Emma Letley: Treasure Island . Oxford World's Classics, 1998, ISBN 0-19-283380-4 , pp. Vii – viii.
  3. ↑ In the publishing house Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld, Freiburg i. Br., In which Karl May's novels have also appeared since 1892 : The Treasure Island . Translated from the English by Robert Louis Stevenson by EA Witte. With 25 illustrations by A. Wald. First to fifth thousand. 1897. Freiburg i. Br. Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld. = The world of journeys and adventures . Volume II.
  4. ↑ Reinbold: Robert Louis Stevenson , p. 78 f
  5. ↑ Silver: Return to Treasure Island ( Memento from April 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Review at mare online
  6. ↑ The Treasure Island radio play page ( Memento from November 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Blubb. Radio play: Treasure Island (radio play). Retrieved December 26, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Pirate's House Inn ( Memento from May 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ comicguide.de
  10. ↑ comicradioshow.com
  11. ↑ "Treasure Island" as an open-air spectacle. Retrieved June 5, 2018 .

Web links

Commons : Treasure Island  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Treasure Island  - Sources and full texts (English)