Treasure Island
Treasure Island is a novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in one volume in 1883, though it had previously been serialised in a children's magazine; the original title was The Sea Cook or
Treasure Island. An adventure tale originally intended for children, it is nowadays rarely read by a young audience. In many
respects, this is also a bildungsroman, dealing, as it does, with the
development and coming of age of its narrator, Jim Hawkins. It is, however, one of the most frequently dramatised of all novels,
having been variously adapted as a film, a television serial, and even a pantomime. The BBC
alone has produced at least three television adaptations. The most recent adaptation is Disney's animated movie Treasure
Planet (2002); as the title change suggests, this shifts the action to outer
space.
As a result of the book's popularity, the term "Treasure Island" has passed into the language as a common phrase, and is often
used as a title for games, amusement arcades, places, etc.
The "sea cook" of the original title is Long John Silver, a
villainous but charming sailor who ingratiates himself with the Hawkins family after the discovery of a map. The map was left in
the belongings of Billy Bones, who died at the inn managed by the mother of Jim Hawkins.
Some of the most respectable local citizens, including Squire Trelawney and Dr Livesey, are intrigued by the map, and set off
to find the island, with Jim as cabin boy and Long John Silver as the leader of the crew. Once on the island, Silver betrays his
employers, but his plans to desert them are foiled and the treasure is found.
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