The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: And Other Tales of Terror

"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" remains one of the world's great classic tales of terror. Against the fogbound, menacing backdrop of Robert Louis Stevenson's London, the "strange case" of the respectable middle-aged physician Henry Jekyll, and his puzzling link with the menacing young Edward Hyde, unfolds through two key informants, both long-time friends of Jekyll. The first, the lawyer Utterson, prides himself on his laissez-faire attitude toward human frailty, and yet cannot bear it that Jekyll has inexplicably willed all his possessions to Hyde. The second, Dr. Lanyon, has cut ties with Jekyll on account of Jekyll's "fanciful" theories. The lawyer and the physician bring their respective areas of expertise to their investigation of the "strange case," until separately they arrive at the hideous truth of Jekyll's secret. In spite of all the movies, the parodies, the TV ads, the media's facile "Jekyll/Hyde" references to every famous person who is revealed to be living a double life, the original story retains every bit of its power to surprise and terrify, and to make us ponder the mysteries of human identity. This Penguin Classics edition also contains "The Body Snatcher" (a based-on-fact story of corpse-stealing for medical study, beautifully filmed by Val Lewton in 1945, with one of Boris Karloff's greatest performances) and "Olalla," a haunting story of psychological as opposed to literal vampirism.

Fast delivery and almost brand new. My child is reading this book as part of her summer reading, and I appreciates the discount from Barnes and Nobels. It is almost 50% off the the list price and I don't mind the wait for delivery rather than getting it from the book stoer.

Popular opinion aside, many people believe they know the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Sadly, this is a tale of hope twisted into madness which has a poignant theme in our present lives.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is more of a short story. It is certainly not a novel. If you accept that fact, then you'll be okay with this. If you're expecting a full novel with descriptive detail and reflective thoughts coming from the characters, then you'll be disappointed.

This is an excellent book. I haven't had a chance to read the other tales, but Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde is fantastic. Product came in time and in new condition.

School book

"The only idea more overused than serial killers is multiple personality," says Charlie Kaufman to his fictional twin Donald in the movie Adaptation. And it's hard to imagine being a reader at the end of the 18th century, because back then you might agree that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a "strange case" and believe that a character who witnesses a transformation that's routine in modern storytelling could die from the shock. Nowadays even Mickey Mouse whose name has historically been synonymous with both wholesomeness and lameness (as in the phrase "a Mickey Mouse operation") has his Mr Hyde in the video game Epic Mickey in which his moral choices affect his physical appearance and the way the story unfolds.The idea of dramatising the struggle between two sides of the same person is so played out it's a source of comedy. Louis C.K has a routine called "of course, but maybe" in which he explains the competition between his good and bad thoughts. In another routine he describes the horrible things he says when he's driving, then reflects, "Where outside of a car is that even nearly okay?" And "What am I capable of?"The joke in Adaptation is that the fictional Donald is a way of dramatising the struggle between the side of the screenwriter Charlie Kaufman who wants to avoid cliché and another part of him who wants to please his audience even if that means writing a story that's been told ad infinitum. "You explore the notion that cop and criminal are really two aspects of the same person," Charlie tells Donald. "See every cop movie ever made for other examples of this." To express a response to that in Louis C.K. terms, of course it's cliché, but maybe it's the only story there is to tell. Maybe writers need to be more crafty about it now than Robert Louis Stevenson in Victorian England where people were so repressed that acknowledging the dark side of human nature was original.Henry Jekyll's struggle with his dark side is more complicated than the "Jekyll good, Hyde bad" way it's often portrayed in movies. Jekyll admits that he has always been "radically both" good and bad. He sees himself as "in no sense a hypocrite" because he is as sincere in his impulses to relieve suffering as to do harm. As Mr Hyde Jekyll destroys a portrait of his father, an act symbolic of Jekyll's attempt to destroy his conscience. Jekyll speaks of "the comparative youth, the light step, leaping pulses and secret pleasures, that I had enjoyed in the disguise of Hyde". The word "disguise", the name "Hyde", and the fact that Jekyll calls his story his "confession" - all suggest this is less a story of dual personalities than of a double life. Hyde is symbolic of the excuses we hide behind that allow us to obey our cruel impulses. Jekyll compares himself drinking the Mr Hyde potion to a drunkard who "reasons upon his vice" while in the same sentence he rationalises that both he and the alcoholic do not really know how bad the drink makes them. He also says that the "pleasures" he "made haste to seek" in his "disguise" were not that bad at first, but describes Hyde growing stronger with each misdeed, which reminds me of the way angry people expect to feel better by getting anger out of their system, but find the more they express the anger the further they have to take the next fit of rage to feel satisfied.There is no Mr Hyde, no mean drunks and no road rage - there are only angry people who use a car or a bottle or the anonymity of the Internet to feel safe lashing out. And the more they do, the more they want to do.

LOVE this book, greatly made and fast delivery!