The Collected Peter Pan

J. M. Barrie

Sep 2019 · Oxford University Press

About this ebook

'To die will be an awfully big adventure.' Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up, is one of the immortals of children's literature. J. M. Barrie first created Peter Pan as a baby, living in secret with the birds and fairies in the middle of London, but as the children for whom he invented the stories grew older, so too did Peter, reappearing in Neverland, where he was aided in his epic battles with Red Indians and pirates by the motherly and resourceful Wendy Darling. Peter Pan has become a cultural icon and symbol for escapism and innocence, remaining popular with both children and adults. In this collected edition, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst brings together five of the main versions of the Peter Pan story, from Peter Pan's first appearance in The Little White Bird, to his novelisation of the story, the stage version, and unrealised silent film script. This edition contains a lively introduction, detailed explanatory notes, original illustrations, and appendices that include Barrie's coda to the play that was only performed once.

About the author

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst is the author of Becoming Dickens (Harvard UP, 2011), winner of the 2011 Duff Cooper Prize, and has edited editions of Dickens's Great Expectations, Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor, and Kingsley's The Water-Babies for Oxford World's Classics. He writes regularly for publications including the Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, TLS, and the New Statesman.