Claire Harman: Myself and the Other Fellow: A Life of Robert Louis Stevenson.(Shorter notices)(Myself and the Other Fellow: A Life of Robert Louis Stevenson)(Brief article)(Book review)

Claire Harman Myself and the Other Fellow: A Life of Robert Louis Stevenson. HarperCollins, 528 pages, $29.95

Claire Harman's Myself and the Other Fellow has enough ribald anecdote and irreverent detail to do her subject proud, though she includes too much Fanny for polite company. Fortunately, when Harman is not busy lauding Stevenson's wife, she spends scant moments speculating on Stevenson's sexuality and the "crushes" of Henry James and other would-be admirers. She is even kind enough to spare us the oh-so-typical postcolonial readings of his time in the Pacific. Recounting a delightful episode where a Samoan servant is introduced to the wonders of staircases, Harman shares Stevenson's merriment: "He found it so novel that for two or three days he did nothing but run up and down, 'chuckling and crowing in an ecstasy of joy.'"

Because Harman concentrates the bulk of her efforts on Stevenson's Samoan adventures with Fanny and Company, the dismalness of his hypochondriac "invalid" years fades as he learns pidgins, takes to wearing cotton sarongs, nestles tropical buds behind his ears, and battles jungle ...