Although he was born into a British High Society Victorian family, his childhood was not very happy. At age 6, his brother David, 13, died in a skating accident in an icy lake. He was his mother’s favorite (there were 10 siblings in total) and never recovered from this tragic loss. When the woman was in her room and James or one of the other children came in, she always thought it was David; and when he realized it wasn’t really him, he treated them very badly. Besides, the father had no contact with his children.
James always wanted to please his mother and take his brother’s place, she educated him and introduced him to a love of books and studies, I always treated him as if he were older than he really was (perhaps thinking he was talking to David). In this way James became a child with adult thoughts and behaviors, was very sick, was afraid to grow up, had no relationships with other young children and was obsessed with the idea that marrying was a disgrace, as well as being very melancholy.
- The only joys he had as a child were related to Robert L.
- Stevenson’s adventure books and for spending very brief moments with his brothers.
- Neighbors and younger friends than him.
- Another problem he faced was that his stature did not increase with age and that he only measured a metre and a half in his adult life.
His life changed completely when he went to the English capital and settled there, where he opened his mind, was able to develop better and write. His college friends included Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert L. Stevenson, who worked for the college newspaper. He also befriended Charles Frohman, producer of his works and victim of the ship Lusitania, sunk during World War I, a fact that marked James a great thing.
Already in her personal life, she married British actress Mary Ansell in 1894, but they divorced a few years later. There are several theories about the end of her marriage, one of the strongest is that she married him for his social status and the fame he could offer; another hypothesis says that marriage was never consummated because it was not a sexual partner, but a mother. At the time of the separation, Mary was dating another man.
After the divorce, James sought solace in the friendship of a group of brothers he met on a walk through Kensington, these children were named George, Jack, Nico, Peter and Michael, when their parents died, adopted them and from there they were inspired. write the most important novel of his career, “The Adventures of Peter Pan”, which was published in the early twentieth century. However, there is also a tragedy in this story; George died during the war, Michael killed himself drowning in a lake with his lover (he was gay) and Peter jumped under a subway car a few years later.
Many of his works took place during his years in Kirremuir, Scotland, and it was common for some of the dialogues in history to be written in Scotland. He quickly wrote plays like? Quality Street? (1901), “What does every woman know?”(1908) and? The admirable Crichton? (1932). The last of this style was called ‘David’ and he played it in 1936.
He also specialized in novels that were very successful in his time. Some of them are 😕 Auid Licht Idylls? (1888),?A window in Thrums? (1889), the little minister?(1891) and? (1896) with?Tommy and Grizel? (1902), linked to what will soon be the character of Peter Pan.
Perhaps it was his best-known work, which was first performed in December 1904, but was called “Wendy”, inspired by a girl he met and died at the age of 5 in 1894.
However, as a character, Peter Pan had already appeared in a storybook called “White Bird”. This book, completed in 1904, deals with her favorite themes: the feminine instinct of motherhood and the preservation of childhood innocence. The teenager was the protagonist of the story, who left his family home to avoid becoming an adult. In Kensington Gardens, London, you can see the character statue. The same place where Barrie met the Llewalyn Davies brothers, on whom he relied to write history.
James Matthew Barrie died in June 1937 of pneumonia and was buried in his native Scotland, Kirriemuir, with his parents and two of his nine siblings. He left all his assets (except what he won with Peter Pan, who was assigned to Great Ormond Street Hospital) to his secretary, Cynthia Asquith.