The Land of Counterpane

Robert Louis Stevenson’s background adds important context to the reading of “The Land of Counterpane.” As has already been stated in this guide, Stevenson was a sickly child. Often unable to go to school, he needed to remain at home and receive his education there. Most sources agree that as a child, Stevenson’s lungs and chest area were what afflicted him the most. Some sources state as well that Stevenson’s mother also had “weak lungs” and that it was she who passed on this thoracic distress to her son. Later in life, Stevenson’s “weak lungs” would continue to plague him. Even as an adult, he would intermittently become bedridden or travel to a climate doctors thought would be more conducive to his health. For example, during the 1880s, Stevenson became bedridden once more and it is believed now that he may have had tuberculosis. The move the family made to Samoa towards the end of his life was in part to accommodate Stevenson’s health. This is all to say that Stevenson was no stranger to how debilitating illness can be, especially how restrictive it can feel for a child. Stevenson often wrote from his sickbed as an adult to help pass the time, producing some of his most well-known texts while convalescing. Stevenson knew firsthand how it can feel to be physically limited to one space, but also how freeing and soothing the imagination can be in these situations. Published in a collection of verse for children, Stevenson could be writing to guide any child who may be in a similar situation he was in. He offers them this solution: to use their creativity to pass the time and make it through these unhappy circumstances, just as he was able to do throughout his life. He promotes the healing power of the imagination in the minds of his young readers.