The resemblances between Stevenson's life, and his books: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Kidnapped, are so striking that as you find out more and more about the similarities, it seams as if Stevenson is writing an autobiography in the form of a novel. Robert Louis Stevenson was born on November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and died just over 44 years later on December 3, in Apia, Samoa, due to a cerebral hemorrhage (Nadel 287). In 1867 he was accepted into the University of Edinburgh as a science student; however, he spent more time studying French Literature along with Scottish history (Biog. Resource Center 1). The city of Edinburgh in this time had several shady characters; however, it was also a respectable, conventional, and very polite town (Nadel 289). These two differences helped shape the life of Robert Louis Stevenson (Biog. Resource Center 1). The contrasts of life in this simple town provided inspiration for the...