Peter Pan: Peter and Wendy and Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (Scribner Classics) (Barnes & Noble's Leatherbound Children's Classics) (Graphic Revolve: Common Core Editions)

by J.M. Barrie

Jack Zipes (Notes)

J.M. Barrie's timeless tale of the 'boy who would not grow up' Peter Pan is edited with an introduction by Jack Zipes in Penguin Classics.

When Peter Pan and his fairy companion Tinker Bell fly in through the window of Wendy's nursery one night, it is the beginning of an adventure that whisks Wendy and her brothers Michael and John off to Neverland. There they will find mermaids, fairies, pirates led by the sinister Captain Hook, and the crocodile who bit off his leg - and still pursues him in hope of the rest! Peter Pan originally appeared as a baby living a magical life among birds and fairies in J.M. Barrie's sequence of stories, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. His adventures capture the spirit of childhood - and of rebellion against the role of adulthood in conventional society.

This edition includes the novel and the stories, and reproduces the original illustrations by Francis Donkin Bedford and Arthur Rackham. In his introduction, Jack Zipes sifts through the psychological interpretations that have engaged critics, explores the cultural and literary contexts in which we can appreciate Barrie's enduring creation, and shows why Peter Pan is fundamentally a work that urges adults to reconnect with their own imagination.

James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937) was born in Scotland, the son of a weaver. In 1885, he moved to London to pursue a literary career. Peter Pan, with its flying and theatrical devices, was a huge success and continues to be performed today; in 1911 Barrie rewrote the play as a novel. On his death in 1937 Barrie gifted copyright of the play Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street hospital.

If you enjoyed Peter Pan you might like Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, also available in Penguin Classics.

'One of the classic children's stories of all time'
Daily Mail

'Intensely moving as well as enchanting in its evocation of childhood, the heartlessness of youth and parental grief as children grow older'
Daily Telegraph

• ISBN10: 014243793X
• ISBN13: 9780142437933
• Publish Date: 1 December 2005 (first published 4 January 1988)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Imprint: Penguin Classics
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780142437933

Reviews

[leahrosereads]

I've heard that this is a great book to read if you want to get into classics. If that's the case, I'm not sure the classics are for me. It took me two tries to get through, but I've finally finished a story that almost everyone says they've read and loved.

And while I definitely loved the whimsy of the story, I realized for the first time how diabolical and ego-maniacal Peter really is, and it crushed my soul a little. I didn't notice it in the movies growing up, but maybe, I just didn't know what those traits looked like until now.

Oh well, I'll always have my childhood wonder for my favorite character in memories, even if the book demolished that idea in adulthood.

[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: I took nearly a week to drag myself through this book, which I'm pretty sad about. When I was younger, I watched and loved to many adaptations of Peter Pan. I wanted to finally read it and thought I'd find the book at least half as charming. I didn't. I was bored out of my mind. The writing style didn't capture my imagination, and I found the characters as they were on paper rather uninteresting.

It makes sense though, as Peter Pan was a stage play first before Barrie wrote the novel. I think what enamoured me about Peter Pan — children flying, Neverland and the open-ended possibilities didn't translate as well in its written form. The visual impact was missing completely, as were the dreamy qualities about the story.

Basically, I didn't like Peter Pan, the book, but still fondly remember the ideas that I loved from the performances and films when I was younger.

Aside from the magical aspects that Peter Pan has come to encompass, I was also uncomfortable with the sexist and racist portrayals of Wendy, Tiger Lily and Native Americans (referred to as "Piccaninny" tribe). It bothered me that for the most part, Wendy's role was that of a "mother" to the lost boys and that the pirates only considered making her their "mother" or making her walk the plank. It grated on me that every year Peter Pan would return for Wendy, Jane, Margaret, and so on, merely for spring cleaning.

Some might argue Peter Pan is a product of its time but should we really glorify such a book in its original form as a classic when it pigeonholes the role of women and refers to people of colour as savages? Something to think about...

[wcs53]

I'm not sure how I missed out on reading Peter Pan when I was growing, but somehow I did. In order to rectify this, I put it on my list of 50 classics to read for The Classics Club by the end of 2017. Although I would have read it eventually, the reason I just read it now was it was the number that came up on the latest Classics Club lucky spin.

I really enjoyed the book, but probably not as much as some others have. I'm not sure if this is due to the fact that I didn't read it as a child or not. I have seen the Disney version quite a number of times and that may have spoiled the way I looked at this book anyway. Although the basic story in the movie is quite similar, in many ways the book is much darker and deeper. Of course, it's hard to know whether or not I would have picked up on this as a child or not anyway.

Most of us, like Peter Pan, have probably at one time or another wished that we didn't have to grow up. However, like Wendy, we have probably had to come to the conclusion that it is inevitable. This tension always seems to be present in reading this book, which my be why it is enjoyed by people of all ages - those who have yet to grow up and those who already have, perhaps with the idea that it might have happened too soon or too quickly.

Unfortunately, because it is a product of its time, some of the ideas and language are dated. Such things as the underlying sexism and the portrayal of the 'redskins' would not be allowed today, but the book is what it is and in its context these things would have been the norm.

This book is worth reading, if only to see the story in its original form. What I saw was that although the Disney movie is a polished effort, it took some of the edge off of it. One thing I wish is that I had read it when I was younger, but it's only one thing among many and I'm sure we all have things like that in our life. Another thing I know for sure is that, unlike Peter Pan, I'm glad I didn't stay young forever.