J.M. Barrie Biography

Scottish Children's Writer, Novelist and Playwright

Feb 24, 2009 Tel Asiado

Brief biography and works of J.M. Barrie, famous for Peter Pan and Wendy.

Scottish author J.M. Barrie is famous as a children's writer, best known as the creator of Peter Pan, the much-loved fairy tale celebrating childhood, however, it was The Little Minister that brought him fame and money.

Early Life of J.M. Barrie

James Matthew Barrie was born on May 9, 1860 in Kirriemuir, Scotland. His family were handloom weavers. His upbringing was strict. Tragedy struck in the family when he was just a boy of six and his brother died. With his adored mother in grief, he found much unhappiness at home. He much longed for the joyous childhood years when his brother was alive.

Barrie studied at the University of Edinburgh. After graduation, he left Scotland for England where he settled.

Career as Writer: Novelist and Playwright

At first, he worked as a journalist and later on began to write fiction. At 28, his first successful novel, Auld Licht Idylls, was published. The story deals with his life experience in a Scottish village. It was in his later years that the dramatized version of his novel about love and adventure, The Little Minister, made him rich and famous.

Barrie wrote many plays, about 35 of them. Some of them are social satires, for example, The Admirable Crichton makes fun of a group of upper-class English people shipwrecked on an island.

Peter Pan

Peter Pan was first performed when Barrie was 44. The extremely famous fairy tale that children love grew from stories he invented for the five sons of his friends Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies. This celebrated tale is not only a fantasy but it is mixed with exciting adventures and become a child forever. The main character, is a boy named Peter Pan who refuses to grow up.

J.M. Barrie did not have a happy life. His life suffered from several tragedies. He was married to actress Mary Ansell and their marriage was childless. His two close friends, the Davieses, both died leaving the five children with him. Later, two of the boys were also killed. Barrie died at the age of 77, June 19, 1937.

Quoted from Barrie:

"Every time a child says "I don't believe in fairies" there is a little fairy somewhere that falls down dead." ~J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Works by J.M. Barrie

• Auld Licht Idylls, 1888, Sketches
• When a Man's single, 1888, Novel
• The Little Minister, 1891, Novel
• The Professor's Love Story, 1892
• The Wedding Guest, 1900
• Quality Street, 1902
• The Admirable Crichton, 1902
• Peter Pan, 1904, Play
• What Every Woman Knows, 1908
• Peter and Wendy, 1911, Novel
• Quality Street, 1913, Play
• Dear Brutus, 1917
• What Every Woman Knows, 1918, Play
• Mary Rose, 1920

Sources:

McGovern, Una, editor. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap, 2002

Ousby, Ian. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993

Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. Carlton Books Limited, 1997

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J.M. Barrie, Scottish Children's Writer

Barrie's Peter Pan Statue, London