Travels With a Donkey in the Cevennes

by RobertLouisStevenson (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2002

  $14.95

• Used

  Paperback
  1991

  $3.42

  In October 1878 the lovesick Robert Louis Stevenson made a journey across the mountains of the Cevennes in Southern France. His only companion was the resolutely obstinate Modestine, a diminutive she-ass, not much bigger than a dog . By day he struggled on foot across the ominously beautiful landscape which had once been riven by religious persecution, and slept at night under the stars, in friendly but primitive inns and, once, in a Trappish monastery. As he travelled, Stevenson realized that he had also embarked on a revealing spiritual odyssey that was to change his perception of tolerance, fellowship and human love. This account of the journey is characterized by the author's natural gaiety as a writer, which breaks through his lover's despair.

• Used

  Hardcover
  1995

  $3.42

• New

  Paperback
  2004

  $11.34

  In 1878, Robert Louis Stevenson was suffering from poor health, struggling to survive on the income derived from his writings, and tormented by his infatuation with Fanny Osbourne, a married American woman. His response was to embark on a journey through the Cevennes with a donkey, Modestine, and a notebook, which he later transformed into Travels with a Donkey. Just a few months after publication, Stevenson was off again this time crossing the Atlantic and the breadth of America in the hope of being re-united with Fanny, an experience he recorded in The Amateur Emigrant. Both pieces are classics of travel writings, which reveal as much about Stevenson's character as the landscape he travels through.