Olalla

Unfortunately, this is one of the most underrated works of Stevenson! A quick perusal of the previous reviews convinced me that the true value of the story is lost to most readers, mainly on account of the comparison and analogy they make with other Vampire tales. In order to fully appreciate the novella, read it for what it's worth, and banish from your mind the literary traditions of Vampirism which stuck to the genre ever since Dracula. First of all, because Olalla is a precursor of Bram Stocker's masterpiece. It was written and published over a decade earlier and so is, by no means, influenced by the spine-chilling Transylvanian Count. Dracula, in fact, is the one who bears many of Olalla's characteristics especially when it is a matter of topography and architecture. Besides, the mystery imbedded in the novella is never entirely solved or revealed by the author. Vampirism remains but a vague possibility among many others. The dog-like behavior of Felipe, for instance, might suggest another type of mythical and fictional monsters at the heart of the riddle such as werewolves. At the same time, the socio-historical background of the story, and the fact that its author had interested himself in the fin-de-siècle Renaissance of Gothic literature suggests the use of such depiction of animal-like behavior as a means to explore the contemporary fears caused by Darwin's theory of evolution and the dread of moral degeneration. A different possibility is madness and mental illness as a natural end result of generations of inbreeding, which explains the gradual degeneration which Olalla had feared, and because of which she refused to elope with the protagonist. As a Gothic tale, Olalla is a unique piece and one of the rare works which out-Poes the gloomy and suspenseful stories of Poe himself. The setting, characters, circumstances, mysteries, secrets, and most importantly the unexplainable riddle at the heart of the plot gives the work a superior station among the pieces of the genre. In other respects, Olalla is one of the most erotic tales of the era, and one which even the coded language used in it could not suppress the intensity of the protagonist's relations with both Felipe and his sister. On the one hand, the narrator's early interactions with the brother reveal the latter's needs for love and approval from the new comer, and much is to be understood from the long hours which the convalescent officer liked to employ in observing the boy and keeping him company in the woods. On the other, the language he employed in describing his encounters with Olalla speaks of sweeping emotions that go beyond innocent meetings, for the two could make love with their eyes without even touching, which can be translated and understood in different ways. Overall, this brief work is a mine of complex and intriguing elements, the complexity of which necessitates a great deal of analysis, but ensures an enjoyable experience.