How Did Peter Pan Grow Up Into A Children's Story?

The tale of Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) has found its way to a children's audience despite the tensions it elicits around the idea of childhood. After the novel "The Little White Bird" (1902), where Peter appears for the first time, and its stage adaptation "Peter Pan" (1904), both explicitly intended for adults, Barrie arrived at his final version for children published in 1911, the novel "Peter and Wendy", through a tormented history of reworkings. My research aims at exploring the significance of Barrie’s constant reshaping of the Peter Pan materials in order to recast the story for a young audience. Moreover, I will investigate as to what extent the ambiguity and instability of the Peter Pan fictions have been tamed in its school and cinema adaptations. These adaptations have deployed strategies to counter Barrie’s rebellious attitude against the didacticism and pedagogic expectations which are conventionally associated with children’s literature. As will become clear...Show moreThe tale of Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) has found its way to a children's audience despite the tensions it elicits around the idea of childhood. After the novel "The Little White Bird" (1902), where Peter appears for the first time, and its stage adaptation "Peter Pan" (1904), both explicitly intended for adults, Barrie arrived at his final version for children published in 1911, the novel "Peter and Wendy", through a tormented history of reworkings. My research aims at exploring the significance of Barrie’s constant reshaping of the Peter Pan materials in order to recast the story for a young audience. Moreover, I will investigate as to what extent the ambiguity and instability of the Peter Pan fictions have been tamed in its school and cinema adaptations. These adaptations have deployed strategies to counter Barrie’s rebellious attitude against the didacticism and pedagogic expectations which are conventionally associated with children’s literature. As will become clear in the following, Barrie challenged the traditional barriers between adults and children on many points. Nevertheless, Peter Pan has been singled out to become a cultural icon of children’s literature – hence, my central questions: How, exactly, did Peter Pan grow up into a children’s story? What conflicting discourses and ideologies concerning childhood may be seen to inform Barrie’s different versions of the Peter Pan story?Show less

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How Did Peter Pan Grow Up Into A Children's Story?