Peter and Wendy (novel)

:"This article is about the novel, Peter and Wendy. For other uses, see Peter Pan (disambiguation)."

Infobox Book
name = Peter and Wendy


image_caption = Cover of first edition, 1911
author = J. M. Barrie
illustrator = F. D. Bedford
country = United Kingdom • United States of America
language = English
subject = Childhood
genre = Fantasy
publisher = Hodder & Stoughton (UK) • Charles Scribner's Sons (USA)
release_date = 1911
preceded_by = The Little White Bird • Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up • Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
followed_by =
media_type = Print
pages = 267 pp.
isbn =

"Peter and Wendy" (1911) is Scottish author James M. Barrie's novelization of his 1904 fantasy play "Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up". Both play and novel follow the adventures of a boy who flies, lives on an isle called Neverland, and eschews growing up. The novel has seen numerous editions since its first, usually titled "Peter Pan".

ources and precursors to the novel

In 1897, Barrie met and befriended the several young sons of Arthur Llewelyn Davies and Sylvia Jocelyn Llewelyn Davies while strolling Kensington Gardens. Barrie became an intimate of the family with Peter Pan first finding dimension in the fantasies and stories Barrie concocted for the boys.

In 1902, Barrie introduced the reading public to Peter Pan in chapters 13-18 of his novel "The Little White Bird", and in December 1904, furthered the public's familiarity with the character through a London production of his fantasy play "Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up". In 1905, the play was mounted in New York City.

In 1906, the Peter Pan episode from "The Little White Bird" was lifted from the novel and published as the stand-alone children's novel, "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens". In 1911, Barrie put closure on the Peter Pan theme with "Peter and Wendy", the novelization of his play. The book was published simultaneously by Hodder and Stoughton in the United Kingdom and Charles Scribner's Sons in the United States with a frontispiece, a pictorial title page, and 11 half-tone plates by F. D. Bedford.

In 1921, the novel was published as "Peter Pan and Wendy", and, in 1928, the play was published. Today, the novel remains popular with children and adults, and is frequently published simply as "Peter Pan".

Plot

Peter Pan is a boy who can fly. He lives on an island called Neverland and leads his gang of Lost Boys in confrontations with the Indians and pirates of Neverland. Peter sometimes listens to bedtime stories at the nursery window of Wendy, John, and Michael Darling in London. On one occasion, he enters the room and makes it possible for the children to fly with him to Neverland. There, the Darling children make themselves comfortable in an underground home and enjoy a variety of adventures with Indians, mermaids, and pirates. In one perilous exploit, the children are captured by Captain Hook, but Peter trounces the villain and safely returns the children to their London home.

Characters

*Peter Pan, a boy of undisclosed age who flies, has all his first teeth, lives on an isle called Neverland, and resists growing up
*Tinkerbell, Peter's fairy companion
*The Lost Boys, Peter's gang of male followers (Tootles, Nibs, Slightly, Curly, and The Twins)
*Tiger Lily, an Indian princess and Peter's admirer
*Captain Hook, a pirate commanding the ship "Jolly Roger" and Peter's relentless enemy
*Smee, Hook's boatswain
*Starkey, Hook's first mate
*George and Mary Darling, Londoners and the parents of three children
*Wendy Darling, the daughter of George and Mary Darling
*John Darling, Wendy's brother
*Michael Darling, Wendy's brother
*Liza, a maid in the Darling home
*Nana, a Newfoundland dog and nanny to the Darling children
*Pirates, mermaids, fairies, Indians, and a crocodile

Comparison with the play

In her essay “Peter and Wendy”, [Fimi, Dimitra. "Peter and Wendy". "The Literary Encyclopedia." 19 May 2008. Accessed 13 September 2008] Dimitra Fimi notes that in novelizing the play Barrie provided extensive background information, expanded minor incidents, and deepened characterizations. Chapter 1, for example, gives the reader extensive background information about the Darling marriage and family life while, at the end of the chapter, Mrs. Darling captures Peter's shadow by closing the nursey window - an event which, in the play, occurs in the past rather than the present.

Whole chapters were added to the novel with no (or limited) parallels in the play. Chapter 4 (“The Flight”), for example, describes the flight of the Darling children to Neverland, Chapter 7 (“The Home Under the Ground”) deepens Wendy’s characterization by describing her duties as mother in Neverland, and Chapter 9 (“The Never Bird”) is entirely devoted to Peter’s escape from death by employing the Never Bird, an incident limited to a single paragraph of stage directions in the play.

Chapter 17 (“When Wendy Grew Up”) follows in prose detail an act that Barrie composed for a single performance at the end of the 1908 season. In it, Peter finds Wendy a married woman with a daughter of her own named Jane who flies with him to Neverland when Wendy is unable to do so. One day in the future, Jane’s daughter will do the same, and her daughter will do the same, and so will other Wendy descendants. The chapter brings the Peter Pan saga to a satisfying close in assuring the reader Peter will never be alone.

References

External links