Peter Pan – Performance of Children's Literature

The Scottish writer, J.M. Barrie, created the character of Peter Pan and the story of Peter and Wendy Darling. Though the character of Peter Pan first appeared in chapters from The Little White Bird (1902) and subsequently published as “Peter Pan in Kensington Garden”(1906) it was in Barrie’s 1904 play Peter Pan, Or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up that the character and story fully took place.

The play premiered in London and was such a big hit, that a year later it opened in New York as well.

Barrie continually tinkered with the text of the play, the character of Peter and the overall story over the years, subsequently publishing the novel version of Peter and Wendy, now generally just known as Peter Pan, in 1911.

The script of the play was eventually published in 1928.

In this module, we will be looking at the original Barrie text of the play and novel and will explore various interpretations of this story and character and consider how this story, like Alice in Wonderland, became a staple of children’s literature and popular culture.

Where have you encountered Peter Pan before? What do you remember of the story?

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Comments

5 responses to “Peter Pan”

Perla

October 29, 2023

The first time I knew about Peter Pan was when I was 15 years old, and it was in a movie. What I remember is that the story revolves around the adventures of Peter Pan, who was a boy who never grew up and was always accompanied by Tinker Bell, the fairy. I also remember that Peter Pan could fly and lived in the magical world of Neverland.

Samantha Lee

November 7, 2023

I remember watching Peter Pan on a VHS tape. I couldn’t really tell you the details in fact I missed the point of the movie so hard that when I found out what it really was I was floored. All I remember was Wendy being around, caption hook constantly causing problems, and tinker bell being locked in a cage.

Jazmin Diyarza

November 7, 2023

The first time I knew about Peter Pan was watching the Disney film of Peter Pan. What I remember about the story is the island of Neverland. I also remember some of the characters which are tinker bell, caption hook, Wendy, and the children on Neverland.