J. M. Barrie and the Lost Boys: The Real Story Behind Peter Pan - Softcover

Birkin, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300098227 ISBN 13: 9780300098228

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2003

Synopsis

J. M. Barrie, Victorian novelist, playwright, and author of Peter Pan or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up, led a life almost as magical and interesting as as his famous creation. Childless in his marriage, Barrie grew close to the five young boys of the Llewelyn Davies family, ultimately becoming their guardian and devoted surrogate father when they were orphaned. Andrew Birkin draws extensively on a vast range of material by and about Barrie, including notebooks, memoirs, and hours of recorded interviews with the family and their circle, to describe Barrie’s life and the wonderful world he created for the boys.

Originally published in 1979, this enchanting and richly illustrated account is reissued with a new preface to mark the release of Neverland, the film of Barrie’s life, and the upcoming centenary of Peter Pan.

“A psychological thriller . . . one of the year’s most complex and absorbing biographies.”—Gerald Clarke, Time

“A terrible and fascinating story.”—Eve Auchincloss, Washington Post

About this title

About the Author:

Andrew Birkin has written many screenplays, including The Name of the Rose with Alain Godard and The Story of Joan of Arc with Luc Besson. He is currently writing the script for Patrick Suskind’s Perfume.

Review:

"Mr. Birkin writes that he has tried to create ‘a documentary account,’ not an interpretive biography. He offers such a wealth of firsthand information that the book holds up 25 years after it was first published (it was reissued last year) and becomes a rich complement to the film. Beautifully designed, the book reproduces letters and diary entries from Barrie and his circle, as well as dozens of photographs."—Caryn James, New York Times

"His most acute biographer, Andrew Birkin, whose, J. M. Barrie and the Lost Boys,  has been granted a timely reissue. [It] digs up some astounding entries from Barrie’s private notebooks. Some are composed in the third person, as jottings toward a possible novel."—Anthony Lane, New Yorker

"A psychological thriller . . . one of the year’s most complex and absorbing biographies."—Gerald Clarke, Time

"A terrible and fascinating story."—Eve Auchincloss, Washington Post

"The best biography [of Barrie] is Andrew Birkin’s."—Cathy Schultz, Daily Southtown (Chicago)

"A definitive study."—New York Daily News

"For an insightful exploration of Barrie and the boys who inspired him, nothing rivals Andrew Birkin’s J.M. Barrie & the Lost Boys."—Norman Allen, Smithsonian Magazine

"[A] landmark biography."—David S. Skipper, Tallahassee Democrat

"The best [biography of Barrie]."—Matt Berman, Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0300098227
• ISBN 13: 9780300098228
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 323