Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie

"All children, except one, grow up."

I thankfully did NOT grow up with the Disney or Mary Martin versions of the Peter Pan story. Oddly enough it was Spielberg's Hook that most piqued my interest in 'the boy who wouldn't grow up,' possibly because the film was intended as a sequel and despite what it may have done with the tale a great deal of its effect was to mysticize its source material. Therefore when I first went back to read Barrie's book, though I was reading a story I already knew, it had already been given a life of its own in my imagination.

As you can see I do not simply own one copy of the book, nor have I ever bought one for myself. It seems to have become a kind of joke with my family members (of whom my sisters have a shared experience with the Pan story) to find new versions of the book for me as gifts. As a result I have collected four books (so far). From right to left: a condensed version meant for an even younger audience than usual, a movie promo version which came with the Peter Pan (2003) DVD, my favorite copy, and another nice green copy which contains full color painting prints (in a very lively and realistic style).

All printings above have illustrations but it is the book in the center of this photograph which I consider the diadem in this crown of Pan. The images in this book were created by Trina Schart Hyman who I feel must have been influenced by Arthur Rackham (Rackham did the original illustrations for Barrie's novel and many other contemporary stories, I may write a blog about him sometime). This was the first copy I was given and the one I treasure most. In addition to this book being connected to my first real experience with Barrie's version of the story I have always felt that the pictures it contained perfectly captured the concept of Pan that had always been bouncing around in my head since I was young. The illustrations below are from this book.

Since I am obviously not the one boy that was gifted with the ability to never grow up I have always considered Peter Pan to be my idol. I realize that I must be very clear when making a claim like this and will explain here: Peter Pan is eternally youthful which means, in addition to having the mockng innocence of a child, he also has the carelessness and immaturity. Pan is able to shed all responsibility in favor of perpetual fun; even the dire circumstances in his conflict with Jas. Hook are a game in his mind. I say that Pan is my idol because I accept that I will never be like him. I consider idols to be unattainable desires, not necessarily containing traits to be modeled; attainable traits are exhibited in heroes, which I consider very differently than idols. Grown men with the 'Peter Pan' complex are pretty damn annoying and I hope to be anything but 'damn annoying.'

That does not mean, however, that I am unwilling to indulge my inner child from time to time with a trip to Neverland. Indeed it is the temporary dreamlike quality that has always captured my imagination. Peter Pan was one of the first examples I had of the ambiguity between dreams and reality that make stories of this nature confusing but fascinating. Even though at the end of the novel we are fairly certain that fantastic adventures have occured, we are still left with this little shred of doubt that suggests the possibility that it may have been an adventure conducted under the power of imagination from the artistic promptings of Wendy Darling's storytelling. This is a quality which gladly still makes its way into most film productions of the story which I will discuss next week.
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In order from left to right in above picture:

Barrie, J.M. Peter Pan and Wendy. Adapt. Jane Carruth. Illus. Anne Grahame Johnstone. London, Award Publications Ltd., 1988.


Barrie, J.M. Peter Pan. Images: "Peter Pan" Live Action Motion Picture Copyright 2003, Universal. New York, Harper-Collins, 2003.

Barrie, J.M. Peter Pan. Illus. Trina Schart Hyman. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1980.

Barrie, J.M. Peter Pan. Illus. Greg Hildebrandt. New York, Unicorn Publishing House, 1987.