Hello

[smiles]

This is a somewhat reversed introduction, my 4th post, apologies.

Really pleased to have found this forum. For a number of years now I've been fascinated by JMB and the story of the Lost Boys. Why? Well I sort of know but trying to explain is like trying to describe air, I can never quite manage it.
I think I've settled on the fact that JMB's Summer days of fun with the Llewellyn-Davies boys in some way mirror the days I've spent in the last few years with my nephews, I like that such innocent, ridiculous games can develop into a worldwide fairytale.
I'm 37, and my friends and my wife have no interest in anything to do with Peter Pan, Black Lakes or small, dead, Scottish authors. But I do, and I hope I've found somewhere that I'm free to ramble on matters that some of us care about.

Thanks for reading

Steve

[tcarroll]

I am in the same boat; my family just can't understand my interest in JMB and his life.  I agree that this forum is wonderful, I have learned so much and I can always ask questions.  When I try to talk to my family about this they look at me like I'm crazy, but they don't understand how interesting this is and how we love all things JMB! 

[smiles]

Hi and thanks for the reply.

Can I ask then how you would describe the interest, if asked?

[tcarroll]

My first interest was when I watched Finding Neverland for the first time.  I thought the story was so beautiful and sad, that I started looking for information on the internet, and eventually I found this forum.  Well, it seemed that the more I learned, the more I wanted to learn.  It's hard to describe the attachment you develop to this story.  I look on the forum everyday to see if anything has been added.  I do realize that FN wasn't accurate, and I have since seen the BBC series and real Andrew's book.  Actually I have read, and read, and read Andrew's book, which is just one more example of how much I love it.  My family watched FN, but never developed the interest I did.  It's hard to explain how much I have learned to respect Mr. Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies family, the love they had for each other, and the way they became a family, mostly by circumsance.  I have always thought the boys were so blessed to have Mr. Barrie love them and take care of them after the loss of their parents.  Most children are not so blessed when that happens.  I also feel that he did it all out of the goodness of his heart. 

[AlexanderDavid]

Hi, sorry for not starting my own newbie thread, but I've been following this site and its forum for some time now, and this thread is what prompted me finally to join--I'm a little shy, especially over the internets, but I'm a fellow Barrie-phile like anyone else I'm seeing here!    But I just want to further help you, smiles, to know that you're not at all alone!

Anyway, as long as I'm introducing myself, I might as well talk about how I got into Barrie....

My first taste of Peter Pan was the Disney film, which didn't leave much of an impression on me.  Then later came Hook, which I liked somewhat better, but it wasn't until recently that I got into Peter Pan and J. M. Barrie in earnest, and it was two movies that did it for me: the 2003 film of Peter Pan, and Finding Neverland.  I'm the sort of person who sees flaws everywhere and thus can't help seeing the bad in those films now, but those two films still reach me, and it was they anyway that led me to my current fascination with the Pan and his creator.

I just identified with Peter Pan (and J. M. Barrie) and I wanted to find out the real story.  I think it was through imdb.com that I found out about The Lost Boys, and from there I found out about this site and the book.  I obsess about things anyway, but this was more than that.  Personality-wise I'm almost J. M. Barrie's opposite (and certainly Peter Pan's) but I felt a kindred spirit with them as though I'd known them a long time.  I find myself analyzing the story, interpreting characters and their motives, speculating on their pasts and futures, interpreting the story mythologically and science fictionally.  And I've thought about how I'd make a Peter Pan film myself (Tim Burton-ish), and even how I might retell the Finding Neverland story more accurately (it would only condense the years 1901-1904).

Anyway, I think I identify with it so much largely because I have Asperger's Syndrome.  That may not be all that makes me different from most people, but it's a large part--until I found out it existed (I was 20 back then) I had no idea WHAT it was.  I didn't ask "What's wrong with me?", though.  Point is, I know how it feels to be an outsider, and to be numb to things so you won't be hurt.  I am also very much still a child even in my twenties, with a Master's Degree--live with parents, no job, don't drive, no love life, etc.  And I fear people might think I'm to be envied since I have nothing but time.  I don't agree, though, because I need to FILL that time, and every day is the same as any other.  (Sound familiar?)  Plus if I'm not doing something productive it's almost like "why get up in the morning?"

At any rate, that's why I love Peter Pan so much, and his father J. M. Barrie--I have now read Margaret Ogilvy, Sentimental Tommy, Tommy and Grizel, and The Little White Bird and can see seeds of Peter Pan in ALL of them!  Not to mention that I see some of my own life in his works--never have I identified with a writer to such a degree.  Part of me fears that my life might tend toward Barrie's (no love life, no children, etc.), but at the same time, he created a work he never could have produced otherwise.  That alone makes me think that I at least have some potential, some reason for my own coming into the world, and if Peter Pan and J. M. Barrie can do that for someone, it's all worthwhile. 

Anyway, sorry for hijacking your thread with a long post, they won't all be this long I promise, but that's me and why I love J. M. Barrie and Peter Pan. 

[smiles]

Hi again and thanks for two extremely interesting posts TC and AD.
 
I mentioned before that I struggle to pinpoint exactly what it is about the story that I find so fascinating, in the simplest terms it reads like a fairy tale with a tragic ending, although my trip to Black Lake Cottage at the weekend de-mystified it somewhat, earthing the story in reality.

I've always had an interest in Edwardian times, from the death of Queen Victoria to the outbreak of World War One. It seems like an age of innocence, pre-BBC when people were left to their own entertainment and old stories of fairies and enchanted places seemed all the more real.
And it's the perfect setting for the story, the days of Empire and boys own adventures as pirates and cowboys, before the slaughter of WW1 and the great depression.

On Halloween especially but on other days of the year also, I take my sister's kids to Wimbledon Common and Richmond park and we busy ourselves with hunting for dinosaurs, fairies and ghosts, playing Robin Hood or Lord of the Rings. I enjoy it so much, but already I see the eldest is starting to question the coolness of it.....he's 10. So just like Barrie I can see the tragedy of loss of innocence and the passing of boy to man. For me my games with my 2 nephews and niece represent a private world where I can indulge my own childishness that few people ever get to hear about, in Barrie's case it became a legend.
Fortunately my wife hasn't run off with an author so I'm looking forward to my own kids where I can go through the cycle once again 


Barrie as a writer doesn't overly appeal to me, I've read all of his major works but can't honestly say I would go back to any of them. Horses for courses.
Oh, and AD feel free to 'hijack' my posts any time, I enjoyed reading yours.

[AlexanderDavid]

Oh, and AD feel free to 'hijack' my posts any time, I enjoyed reading yours.

Thank you for being understanding, as I do tend to ramble, especially when I'm passoniate about something--I've been told I have above average intelligence, but if I were really smart I'd learn how to be concise without compromising my intended meaning.   

I actually cut down that post several times before I got it that short....   

[smiles]

Well if I enjoy reading what people write then I usually see length as a strength  (revealing my very well disguised talent as a poet there).

But there is something chaotic and unplanned about Peter Pan, and trying to pin him down and our interest in him is like trying to catch a cloud, so maybe rambling is the way to go......?

[AlexanderDavid]

Well if I enjoy reading what people write then I usually see length as a strength  (revealing my very well disguised talent as a poet there).

But there is something chaotic and unplanned about Peter Pan, and trying to pin him down and our interest in him is like trying to catch a cloud, so maybe rambling is the way to go......?

 

True--it is difficult to trace the story behind Peter Pan exactly.  Like, how many Peter Pan stories exist, and how many versions of each exist (even restricting the question to Barrie's Peter Pan works)?  I suppose there are no exact words to describe it.

[CliveBert]

Hello All.
I am new Bie here to the jmbarrie. I am from canada (Toronto).