Background

Barrie was the ninth child of David Barrie, a weaver. His earliest education was received in Kirriemuir and Forfar, later celebrated in his books as Thrums and Tillyloss. After further preparation at Dumfries Academy, he matriculated at Edinburgh University and graduated with honors in English in 1882. From January 1883 through October 1884 he was on the staff of the Nottingham Journal. Then, for five months, he lived in Kirriemuir, where he acquired from his mother the material for a series of sketches concerning the orthodox Old Lights sect, which he contributed to the St. James's Gazette of London and which were afterwards published as Auld Licht Idylls. On Mar. 27, 1885, emboldened by the reception of his sketches, he went to London and made his home there for the rest of his life.

For the next 15 years Barrie devoted himself to concentrated literary activity. He celebrated the life of Scotland, particularly in its orthodox religious aspects, in Auld Licht Idylls (1888); An Edinburgh Eleven (1889), sketches of university personalities; A Window in Thrums (1889), a series of tales about Kirriemuir; An Auld Licht Manse (1893); and A Tillyloss Scandal (1893).

Barrie's other writings of this period were of a personal nature; among them are When a Man's Single (1888), a literary autobiography with a commingling of humor and tragedy; My Lady Nicotine (1890), a panegyric on smoking; and Margaret Ogilvy (1896), a tender story of his mother. Also during this period Barrie published his only novels: Better Dead (1888), a poor melodrama; The Little Minister (1891); Sentimental Tommy (1896); and its sequel, Tommy and Grizel (1900). These works are marked by Scottish dialect, whimsey, humor, pathos, sentimentalism, and occasionally an undertone of veiled acidity.

After 1900 Barrie confined his work to books for children --The Little White Bird (1902), Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906), and Peter and Wendy (1911), which make up the story of Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up--and the plays for which he is now best known. The Little Minister (1897), dramatized from his novel, was Barrie's first stage success, although in 1891 he had produced Richard Savage in collaboration with C. Marriott. It was Quality Street (1901), however, a brilliant comedy of early-nineteenth-century England, that first marked him as one of the foremost playwrights of his time, and he followed this with a series of scintillating plays, among which the finest are probably The Admirable Crichton (1902), Peter Pan (1904), What Every Woman Knows (1908), The Twelve Pound Look (1910), A Kiss for Cinderella (1916), Dear Brutus (1917), The Old Lady Shows Her Medals (1917), and Mary Rose (1920), all marked by the same qualities as his early novels, except for Scottish dialect. Nearly all of them have elaborate, chatty stage directions and were equally successful as books when they were published intermittently some years later. Barrie often fuses the real and unreal, mingling humor and comedy with a gentle melancholy. He once summed up his work as a means "to play hide and seek with angels." His work is a plea for simplicity and the joys of childhood.

Barrie received many honors: he was created a baronet in 1913, was given the Order of Merit in 1922, held the rectorship of St. Andrews University from 1919 to 1922, was chancellor of Edinburgh University from 1930 to 1937, and served as president of the Society of Authors from 1928 until his death. He died in London on June 19, 1937, and was buried in Kirriemuir, Scotland.

Career

Perhaps Barrie's most famous creation is Peter Pan, the little boy from Never-Never Land who refuses to grow up. The origin of Peter goes back to two of Barrie's earlier books. In the novel Tommy and Grizel mention is made of a little boy, happily lost, who fears that if his parents find him he will be forced to grow up. This character is elaborated in six chapters of The Little White Bird.

The play Peter Pan was first produced in London by Charles Frohman in December 1904. The main characters, in addition to Peter, are Wendy Darling; her brothers, John and Michael; Nana, the dog-nurse; Tinker Bell, the unpredictable fairy; the Lost Boys; Capt. Hook, the ferocious pirate with a wicked hook for a hand; and an assortment of Red Indians, pirates, and animals. Wendy and her brothers, taught to fly by Peter and Tinker, go to Never-Never Land; they live in an underground home, swim in the lagoon, have hair-raising adventures, and then return home after Peter has conquered the pirates. Peter Pan has been repeatedly produced, with such actresses as Maude Adams and Eva Le Gallienne appearing in the title role. In 1951 there was a revival of the play in New York, starring Jean Arthur and Boris Karloff, with incidental music by Leonard Bernstein. Another revival in 1954 starred Mary Martin.

The six chapters from The Little White Bird were published separately in 1906 as Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, with illustrations by Arthur Rackham. In 1911 Barrie turned his play into a story, with the title Peter and Wendy.

Works

• Other Work

  • When a Man's Single (1888)

  • My Lady Nicotine (1890)

  • Margaret Ogilvy (1896)

  • Better Dead (1888)

  • The Little Minister (1891)

  • Sentimental Tommy (1896)

  • Tommy and Grizel (1900)

  • The Little White Bird (1902)

  • Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906)

  • Peter and Wendy (1911)

  • The Little Minister (1897)