Classical allusions and narrative guidance in Robert Louis Stevenson’s <i>Kidnapped</i>

Abstract Kidnapped is the most Scottish novel Robert Louis Stevenson ever wrote. Set in the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden, it integrates historical with fictional events and features detailed Highland topography, along with a gallery of Scottish character types. Yet despite its regional ambiance Kidnapped is imbued with classical references that broaden its focus, illuminating issues of class and education within the story and of genre and narrative structure without. At the close of the novel David Balfour’s grasp of a Latin tag proves crucial to establishing, if not his identity as heir to a Scottish estate, at least his position as an educated gentleman. This status contrasts with his earlier identity as ‘the lad with the silver button’. A cluster of motifs connects the novel to the epic genre, while the observance of narrative principles set forth in Horace’s Ars Poetica adds an authentic eighteenth-century touch.