J. M. Barrie's "Peter Pan:" A Story that Hasn't Died, About a Boy Who Doesn't Grow Up

"Peter Pan" is a remarkably large cultural icon in America, considering that it's a play written by a Scottish novelist, Sir James Matthew Barrie or J. M. Barrie, in the first years of the 20th century.

Peter Pan first appeared as a character in "The Little White Bird" (1902), a novel by Barrie. The novel was written for adults, but the "Peter Pan" chapters were lifted out and re-published as "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens" (1906).

The play, "Peter Pan," opened in 1904.

Project Gutenberg makes these available as online books:

• "The Little White Bird; or, Adventures in Kensington gardens"
  J. M. Barrie
• "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens"
  J. M. Barrie
• "Peter Pan"
  J. M. Barrie
  (Currently for US distribution only!)

There have been quite a few screen adaptations of "Peter Pan:"

• "Peter Pan" 1924 (Cyril Chadwick, Mary Brian)
• "Peter Pan" 1953 (Disney)
• "Peter Pan" 1955 (television series, apparently made in Brazil, in Portuguese)
• "Peter Pan" 1960 (Cyril Ritchard, Maureen Bailey) for television
• "Peter Pan" 1962 (Wolf Ackva, Michael Ande, made in West Germany, in German)
• "Peter Pan 1976 (Danny Kaye, Mia Farrow)
• "Peter Pan" 1986 (Animated Australian version, it seems)
• "Hook" 1991 (Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams)
• "Peter Pan" 2003 (Jason Isaacs, Jeremy Sumpter)
• "Peter Pan" 2000 (Paul Schoeffler, Elisa Sagardia, made for television)
• "Return to Neverland" 2002 (Disney)
• "Peter Pan" 2003 (Jason Isaacs, Jeremy Sumpter)
• Even a video game1993

More, about Barrie and his works, at "Born in Scotland; Lives in Neverland – J.M. Barrie and the big adventure of Peter Pan."

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Update May 21, 2008

Someone's adding to the Peter Pan phenomenon: "Peter Pan's Neverworld" ("A new novel by Peter Von Brown, based upon the expansion ideas of Sir J. M. Barrie"). The author left a comment on this post.

He has a blog: "Peter Von Brown." A recent entry (May 13, 2008) says that he has an advance copy, and that the book will soon be available: "So hang in there, Peter Pan is coming back…and he's not alone."

There's a pre-release review at Lulu Marketplace: Science Fiction & Fantasy.