His touch is light
and his thought is clear and lucid. _Across the Plains_ is written in
his most straightforward and natural style.
Stevenson was a careful writer, doing with great skill any established
piece of art. He practised diligently, and gained, as he himself
states, his high rank by constantly drilling himself in the art of
writing. This imitation of form to the point of perfection, rather
than an expression of a great and moving idea, gives an air of
insincerity to some of Stevenson's works. Yet, although seemingly
artificial, he never chose words for the sake of mere sounds, but for
their accuracy in truth and fitness. He was as an ephemeral shadow
with an optimistic and real spirit. He infused an intimacy and
spirituality into his writings that prove delightful to all his
readers.
The subject of Markheim, a man failing through weakness, was a
favorite topic for Stevenson. Markheim is almost an ideal specimen of
the impressionistic short-story. It has a plot in which Hawthorne
might justly have revelled, a treatment as intellectual as that of
Poe, descriptions not unlike those of Flaubert's, and a moral ending
true to the Puritanic type. The movement of the story is swift and
possesses perfect unity. The surprise at the end comes as a shock
although the author has consistently and logically constructed his
plot.
GENERAL REFERENCES
_Emerson and Other Essays_, John Jay Chapman.
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