Robert Louis Stevenson’s #shortstory “The Bottle Imp” was first published (in English) #OTD, 8 Feb 1891, in the New York Herald. It was originally published in #Samoan translation as “O le Fagu Aitu” in the missionary magazine O le sulu Samoa (The Samoan Torch)
A 👿🧵 …
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Interesting for all sorts of reasons—a #Hawaiian protagonist, a strong female character—“The Bottle Imp” is wonderfully elegant, & moves like a Swiss watch. It also contains a paradox, which arguably undermines Rational Choice Theory in #economics
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📷William Hatherell, 1905
Stevenson’s “The Bottle Imp” has inspired a number of spinoffs, from the 2016 opera THE DEVIL INSIDE, by @stuart_macrae & @louisewelsh00 …
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theguardian.com/music/2016/jan…
… to the trick-taking card game FLASCHENTEUFEL, where the person left holding the bottle at the end of the game loses (& possibly goes to Hell, the rules are unclear on that point) …
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… to our own free online ezine on Scottish literature at thebottleimp.org.uk
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You can download our free ebook of “The Bottle Imp” (also containing two other supernatural masterpieces by Stevenson, “Thrawn Janet” & “The Tale of Tod Lapraik”) from our website …
asls.org.uk/publications/b…
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… or listen to @louisewelsh00 read “The Bottle Imp” here!
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There was a man of the Island of Hawaii, whom I shall call Keawe; for the truth is, he still lives, and his name must be kept secret; but the place of his birth was not far from Honaunau, where the bones of Keawe the Great lie hidden in a cave …
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PS: In 2018, a YA novel – The Bottle Imp of Bright House, written by @tommyllew, illustrated by @GrisGrimly, & inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s short story – was published by @HolidayHouseBks
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