Reading the Classics #6: J.M. Barrie

James Matthew Barrie was one of those people whose names (and huge mustaches) are forgotten while their works live on. You probably wouldn't have guessed that he was the one who wrote Peter Pan. Yep, I mean Peter Pan, as in the classic story of Neverland, the Lost Boys, Captain Hook, and Wendy. Although Disney took many liberties when making the story into a film, the original idea came from Barrie's mind. He was quite a genius, in my personal opinion. As the only work of his that I've read is Peter Pan, I'm not going to do best-to-worst rating (if that wasn't obvious already).

If you want to read Peter Pan, I would encourage you too, but be prepared to accept the fact that there are many differences between the book and the movie. Besides that, go for it. One fact you might be interested in knowing is that his inspiration for the Lost Boys came from several boys he knew in real life call the Davies children. George, John, Peter, Michael, and Nicholas were brothers whose parents were great friends of Barrie. When Mr. and Mrs. Davies died due to various causes, Barrie adopted the boys and became their best friend. Peter Davies, in fact, was where the idea for Peter Pan came from; Barrie originally created the character for the amusement of Peter and his brothers. Thus a great story was born.

One last thing before I end this off. I was thinking it would be a good idea to make a timeline of when these books were written, to help keep in perspective which books were authored when. I'll update it for each subsequent post. Thanks for reading.

1811- Sense and Sensibility

1813- Pride and Prejudice

1814- Mansfield Park

1815- Emma

1817- Sanditon

1818, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion 

1836-1837- The Pickwick Papers

1837- Oliver Twist

1843- A Christmas Carol

1849-David Copperfield

1854- Hard Times

1855- Little Dorrit

1859- A Tale of Two Cities

1864- Great Expectations

1887- A Study in Scarlet

1902- The Hound of the Baskervilles

1904- Peter Pan

1906- Sir Nigel

1945- Animal Farm

1949- 1984

1957- The Cat in the Hat