Peter Pan (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

J. M. Barrie

• Publisher: Barnes & Noble Classics
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781411432895
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Classics
• Index: Literature

Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:

• New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars
• Biographies of the authors
• Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events
• Footnotes and endnotes
• Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work
• Comments by other famous authors
• Study questions to challenge the readers viewpoints and expectations
• Bibliographies for further reading
• Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate

All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each readers understanding of these enduring works. Peter Pan first flew across a London stage in 1904, overwhelming audiences with its tale of a magical boy who never grows up, who lures young Wendy and her brothers to Neverland where they meet pirates, Indians, fairies, and the Lost Boys. Following the play's astonishing success, J. M. Barrie revised and expanded the story and published it as this novel, originally titled Peter and Wendy when it appeared in 1911. For children, it remains a marvelous mix of fantasy and adventure, featuring unique, imaginative characters, who frisk and frolic in an enchanting land.For adults, the story of Peter and the Lost Boys works on a much deeper level, speaking to them about the inevitable loss of childhood and the ability "to fly." The climactic duel between the "proud and insolent youth" (Peter Pan) and the "dark and sinister man" (Captain Hook) is both a swashbuckling romp and a moving metaphor for the complex, poignant struggle between innocent but irresponsible youth and tainted but dependable maturity. Neither side wins, for the one inevitably becomes the other. Of course, the ageless Peter Pan is the happy exception.

Amy Billone teaches at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at Princeton University, where she wrote her dissertation on women's involvement with the nineteenth-century sonnet.

Table of contents

• FROM THE PAGES OF PETER PAN
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• J. M. BARRIE
• THE WORLD OF J. M. BARRIE AND PETER PAN
• Introduction
• CHAPTER I - Peter Breaks Through
• CHAPTER II - The Shadow
• CHAPTER III - Come Away, Come Away!
• CHAPTER IV - The Flight
• CHAPTER V - The Island Come True
• CHAPTER VI - The Little House
• CHAPTER VII - The Home under the Ground
• CHAPTER VIII - The Mermaids’ Lagoon
• CHAPTER IX - The Never Bird
• CHAPTER X - The Happy Home
• CHAPTER XI - Wendy’s Story
• CHAPTER XII - The Children Are Carried Off
• CHAPTER XIII - Do You Believe in Fairies?
• CHAPTER XIV - The Pirate Ship
• CHAPTER XV - “Hook or Me This Time”
• CHAPTER XVI
• CHAPTER XVII - When Wendy Grew Up
• ENDNOTES
• INSPIRED BY PETER PAN
• COMMENTS & QUESTIONS
• FOR FURTHER READING