Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-02-10
TWO STYLES OF FICTION.
Comparison of the Greatest English and
 Greatest American Novelists.
Especial Correspondencc.l

Special Correspondence
 NEW YORK, Feb. 6-Robert Louis Ste venson is in receipt of many letters from those who admire his writings, and who de sire to write fiction themselves, asking him if he will not give some advice for be ginners or tell the story of his own early experiences, so that this account might be of value to others who have literary ambi- tiOn, Mir. Stevenson could not expect at great expenditure of time to reply to all these letters, so that he has determined to answer all of them at one time and in one article, which will give an account of how he came to write his first book and incl dentally some story of his early struggles in literature.
 It will be a fascinating sketch, because those who have known what MT. Steven sons early struggles were have sometimes wondered that he had the perseverance to continue in the face of so many discourage ments and such frequent rejection of his manuscripts. Many persons suppose that MT. Stevenson made hit with his first book, believing that first book to have been "Dr. Jeykll and Mir Hyde.' But that is because Stevenson had been heard of by only a comparatively limited number up to the time of the publication of that allegory, for in his opinion "Jekyll and Hyde" is nothing but an allegory suggesting the dOlIi!e nature which is inherent in man. kind
 T..., had been years of incessant, ex- hau.-:iuc toll and discipline before MT. SteN .--0u was able To put the fancies of his brain into such shape as would command public approval. The story of "Jekyll and Hyde" for instance, was very long in devel- opment, although it was written almost as swiftly as was Dr. Johnson's ''RasSelas," which Johnson wrCte in a few days that he might raise the money to pay the expenses of his mothers funeral.
 Tie idea which subsequently developed into the story of 'Jekyll and Hyde" was in Stevenson's mind for long time. He tried to formulate it many times, but without such results were satisfactory to him. He had almost given up the hope of being able to produce a story which should sug- gest the idea of dual nature of men, when one night, finding himself at an old fash toned inn somewhere in England, a storm raging without and he having no other companion than the fire in the grate, there flashed in his mind as by inspiration what seemed IO him to be the successful way of writing that story. In a moment he began it, and writing with what for him was un- usual speed he completed it, not expecting that it would prove any more popular than some of the other sketches which he had previously written. It surprised him and of late years has somewhat annoyed him to know that his fame was built upon that story.
 Publishers say that today Stevenson ig by long odds the most popular writer of fic- tiOn, at least of fiction which is read by English speaking people. His latest short story, The Ebb Tide" had very great success when published serially, and the advance demand for copies in book form in dicates that the edition may possibly be as large as that of any of his other novels, eX- cepting possibly ''Treasure Island" or "Je- kyll and Hyde"
 Those who have been reading with inter est Mir. Towels papers on his literary pas, siOns, which are really a series of sketches describing the manner in which he was at