{"id":29704,"date":"2023-04-11T01:12:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-11T05:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/?p=29704"},"modified":"2023-04-13T15:21:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T19:21:00","slug":"the-robert-louis-stevenson-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/2023\/04\/the-robert-louis-stevenson-card\/","title":{"rendered":"The Robert Louis Stevenson Card"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AI learned of Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) when I was maybe 9 years old, courtesy of the go-fish card game Authors<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 Stevenson’s doleful countenance on the cards made more of an impression on me than did the titles of his works, the most notable of which were Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde<\/em> and Treasure Island.\u00a0 <\/em>Sadly, the game did not sway me to read his works or, for that matter, any<\/em> work by any<\/em> author in the card game’s 11-deity pantheon.*<\/p>\n

I bring up Mr. Stevenson now because, recalling him from the Authors <\/em>game, I decided the other day to look him up in Librivox, an archive of recorded written works in the public domain<\/a>.\u00a0 Something I often plug into to fall asleep.<\/p>\n

How surprised I was then, as I dialed up Stevenson’s short story Markheim<\/em><\/a>, to find myself captivated by his writing.\u00a0 The man tells a gripping tale, imbued with a dramatic flair that almost makes the start and finish beside the point.\u00a0 My follow-up Stevenson selection was The Sire de Maletroit’s Door<\/em><\/a>, an allegory of choice, chance and fate.\u00a0 This story felt a bit contrived but its telling was just as suspenseful and rich in detail.<\/p>\n

I ultimately arrived at the Librivox doorstep of Kidnapped<\/em>, a novel published by Stevenson in 1886.\u00a0 The tale<\/a> is ostensibly about David Balfour, a young and earnest Scotsman who, recently orphaned and seeking to secure his inheritance, is kidnapped by an unscrupulous seaman (aren’t they all!) hired by David’s miserly uncle to make David — and his claim to the family estate — disappear.<\/p>\n

But the meat of the story is about David’s post-kidnap adventure and evolving relationship<\/a> with Alan Breck Stewart<\/a>, best described in modern terms as a Scot activist\/militant.\u00a0 David meets Alan thanks to a chance collision between his kidnapper’s brig and a smaller boat ferrying Stewart to an unnamed destination.\u00a0 The collision hurls Stewart onto the bowsprit<\/a> of the brig, from where he is brought on board and from whence the real action begins.<\/p>\n

David and Alan’s relationship is often described as a bromance (Kidnapped<\/em> was dismissed as a “boy’s story” in Stevenson’s time) but I could make the argument, without authority, that the tale is about the perils, turmoils and vulnerabilities of gay relationships of the era.\u00a0 It certainly reads as more-than-a-friendship to my 21st-century eyes.<\/p>\n

In fact, I speculate that the title Kidnapped<\/em> refers not to David’s confinement on the brig — which comes to an abrupt end via shipwreck — but to the capture of his heart by Alan.\u00a0 This becomes clear as David, navigating his way back home, struggles to resolve his love for the risky Alan vs. his instinct for self-survival, a conflict which Stevenson casts in ever-sharper contrast as the story hurtles forward.<\/p>\n

You will have to read (or listen to) Kidnapped<\/em> yourself to see if you see what I see.\u00a0 But in any event, there is more to Robert Louis Stevenson than a card with a mournful face and the titles of some boy’s stories printed on it.\u00a0 I’m glad I went fishing and discovered him.<\/p>\n

Postface… or Perhaps Just Part II
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"Songwriters<\/a> This got me to thinking that there should be a children’s card game called Songwriters<\/em> which captures the artistic tastes of its generation (mine) and would be just as dated as Authors<\/em> was when it was published.\u00a0 For authenticity, the portraits of the songwriters would have to be just as formal and stiff as in the original game.<\/p>\n

My own Songwriters<\/em> deck would feature 13 of them, like a regular deck of cards.\u00a0 Here they are, in alphabetical order, along with the songs that would appear on each set of four:<\/p>\n

Chuck Berry<\/strong>: No Particular Place to Go, <\/em> Maybellene, <\/em> Johnny B. Goode, Sweet Little Sixteen.<\/em><\/p>\n

David Bowie<\/strong>:\u00a0 Space Oddity, All the Young Dudes, Young Americans, Changes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Willie Dixon<\/strong>:\u00a0 Spoonful, Back Door Man, Hoochie Coochie Man, I Just Want to Make Love to You.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bob Dylan<\/strong>: Blowin’ in the Wind, Tangled Up in Blue, Like a Rolling Stone, <\/em>All Along the Watchtower.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

George Harrison<\/strong>: While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Here Comes the Sun, Something, My Sweet Lord. <\/em><\/p>\n

Eddie Holland<\/strong>: Heat Wave, Stop! In the Name of Love, You Keep Me Hangin’ On, Reach Out I’ll Be There.<\/em><\/p>\n

Carole King<\/strong>:\u00a0You’ve Got a Friend, It’s Too Late, So Far Away, I Feel the Earth Move.<\/em><\/p>\n

John Lennon<\/strong>: Help!, I Am The Walrus, Strawberry Fields Forever, Imagine.<\/em><\/p>\n

Paul McCartney<\/strong>: Yesterday, Hey Jude, Blackbird, Maybe I’m Amazed.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sarah McLachlan<\/strong>:\u00a0 Adia, Angel, I Will Remember You, Possession.<\/em><\/p>\n

Cole Porter<\/strong>: Anything Goes, Just One of Those Things, I Love Paris, Night and Day.<\/em><\/p>\n

Carly Simon<\/strong>: That’s the Way I Always Heard It Should Be, Nobody Does It Better, Anticipation, You’re So Vain.<\/em><\/p>\n

Paul Simon<\/strong>: The Sound of Silence, I Am a Rock, Mrs. Robinson, Bridge Over Troubled Water.<\/em><\/p>\n

Brian Wilson<\/strong>:\u00a0 Good Vibrations, Surf City, God Only Knows, In My Room.<\/em><\/p>\n

Neil Young<\/strong>: Down by the River, Heart of Gold, Ohio, Southern Man.<\/em><\/p>\n

Can someone please produce a set of these cards?\u00a0 I am dying to ask a fellow player if they have a Hoochie Coochie Man in their hand.<\/p>\n

__________________<\/p>\n

* The Authors<\/em> pantheon, for the record: Stevenson, Sir Walter Scott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, James Fenimore Cooper, Louisa May Alcott (the only woman), Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Washington Irving, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.\u00a0 I remember thinking that Lord<\/em> was a weird middle name.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I learned of Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) when I was maybe 9 years old, courtesy of the go-fish card game Authors.\u00a0 Stevenson’s doleful countenance on the cards made more of an impression on me than did the titles of his … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-notes","category-interests"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29704"}],"version-history":[{"count":58,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29812,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29704\/revisions\/29812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}