The Annotated Peter Pan: The Centennial Edition by J. M. Barrie, and: Peter Pan's Shadows in the Literary Imagination by Kirsten Stirling (review)

When you dip your foot into the waters of Peter Pan studies, you find yourself suddenly dragged out to sea by the undertow and drowning, happily, as mermaids, pirates, and Indians circle round you. In other words, the more you read of J. M. Barrie, the more you need to read of J. M. Barrie. You're hooked.

Maria Tatar, editor of The Annotated Peter Pan, and Kirsten Stirling, author of Peter Pan's Shadows in the Literary Imagination, both seem to be deliriously spinning in Peter Pan studies, and both offer varying readings of the iconic story as a continuing celebration of the centenary of the novel Peter and Wendy in 1911. Both also appear to be obsessed with tracing Peter Pan in later incarnations; I know how they feel—given an author, story, and character whose origins are fraught with complication, at times I'm tempted to believe that, ironically, Peter Pan is indeed the origin of all stories for children.

The Annotated Peter Pan is the most recent offering in the Norton series, which co-opted Martin Gardner's The Annotated Alice and began soliciting its own volumes of classic children's literature, including The Secret Garden and The Wind in the Willows, and Tatar herself has already edited three such editions of fairy tales. There doesn't seem to be a particular formula to these various books, except for the editor providing a general introduction, annotations to the text, and reproductions of classic illustrations. The Annotated Peter Pan offers the fullest expansion on the text: in addition to a general introduction, it includes all of the photographs and captions of The Boy Castaways; all of Arthur Rackham's illustrations; Barrie's proposed screenplay for a silent film; an essay on cinematic treatments; a biographical essay on Barrie as well as one on Rackham; a list of contemporary reactions to the play and memories of many who loved the play or novel; and an essay on Peter Pan adaptations. All this is garnished with photos of Barrie, his wife, and his friends (especially the Llewelyn Davies family); photos from performances of the play; and letters, telegrams, and book covers. Although several of these sections (and, of course, the main text) have been published previously or are available through Andrew Birkin's Web site on Barrie, Tatar is the first to collect them together, creating a treasure trove for both novice readers and aficionados of Barrie's life and works. Besides the illustrations of F. D. Bedford (from the 1911 edition), Lucy Attwell, Alice B. Woodward, Kathleen Atkins, and others, this edition also offers us all of Arthur Rackham's illustrations for Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906), in which Peter is introduced as a seven-day-old baby who escapes his home and resides with the fairies who take over the park at night. As beautifully haunting as Rackham's illustrations are, it's debatable whether they should be included in this edition since they do not actually accompany the story of the prepubescent Peter Pan which Tatar wants to immortalize. However, as Claudia Mills suggests in her review of The Annotated Secret Garden, perhaps it is the inclusion of "illustrations that most justifies the publication" of an annotated edition of a children's classic (111).

A theme quickly emerges in the introductory portions of the edition: Tatar's purpose is to keep Peter Pan alive and popular. She states, "I lost my heart to the boy who would not grow up. For weeks after that [watching Mary Martin's TV versions], I dreamed about fairy dust and flying. Years later, as an adult, I was smitten once again" (xxiii). And later, "How do we explain Peter Pan's enduring hold on our imagination? Why do we get hooked (and I use...