R.M.BALLANTYNE
Scottish author (1825-1894)
Biography:
Robert Michael Ballantyne was born in Edimburgh in 1825. Due to finantial problems, he was forced to find a job and, at the age of 16, he began working in Canada for Hudson Bay Company, trading with local indians in remote areas. In 1848, again in Scotland, his first book appeared: Hudson Bay or the Life in the Wilds of North America. At the beginning his books were mainly autobiogrphical, depicting life and experiences in Canada, but later on, he also wrote about adventures elsewhere. His writing style is said to show strong influence from Walter Scott, the Scottish romantic novelist par excellence.
From 1856 on he devoted himself to writing, and published over 80 books, mainly meant for young readers. He was also a regular contributor to Boy's Own Papers, a magazine which produced patriotic adventure stories set in the remote parts of the British Empire. During his lifetime, he was considered to be the hero of Victorian youth, for his books showed strong puritanism and echoed Victorian enthusiasm for the ideals of service to the British Empire.
Among all his novels, he is mainly remebered for The Coral Island, published in 1858. This adventure book tells the story of three young English castaways on a Pacific Island. Like in Daniel De Foe's Robinson Crusoe, they have to make do with bare essentials and endure many dangerous yet instructive adventures.
He also wrote Snowflakes and Sunbeams or the Young Fur Trader (1856), Ungava: a tale of Eskimo Land (1857), The Dog Crusoe (1860), The Gorilla Hunter (1862), The Lighthouse (1863), Fighting the Flames (1867), Deep Down (1868) and Black Ivory (1873).
During his lifetime he enjoyed a widespread popularity, but as the ideas of the Empire began to get outdated, his novels lose their appeal. However, great novelists like R.L.Stevenson admired his writings. He died in Rome, Italy, in 1894.