Honors Thesis

[Barriesaxxy]

Hi! I'm an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico, majoring in English. I'm in my third year, and I'm looking for a topic for writing a departmental honors thesis next year. I'm really interested in studying Barrie/his works, but not sure what direction to take this broad idea. I was wondering if anyone might have some suggestions.
Thanks a lot

[AlexanderDavid]

Hi! I'm an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico, majoring in English. I'm in my third year, and I'm looking for a topic for writing a departmental honors thesis next year. I'm really interested in studying Barrie/his works, but not sure what direction to take this broad idea. I was wondering if anyone might have some suggestions.
Thanks a lot

Well, for starters, what interests you the most about Barrie and/or his works?

[Barriesaxxy]

uh... everything

Seriously, I got interested in Barrie because I fell in love with Peter Pan, but I just finished reading The Little White Bird, and I'm about three pages into Sentimental Tommy. I found the introduction really interesting because he talks about how Tommy didn't want to grow up, and I wasn't expecting that theme to be running in his other books. (I also liked that he basically said that he had plans to take the book/the character one way, but Tommy ended up going somewhere else. That happens to me all the time.)

I've also looked into about every different interpretation of Peter Pan that I can get my hands on, and some crop up where you don't expect them to (for example, Juan Antonio Bayona's film The Orphanage.) I wonder if it says anything about our society that the versions/interpretations of this story seem to get steadily darker...

[AlexanderDavid]

Ah, I love the works of his I've read too--they make me think of what I myself might write.

Do you know anything biographical about him?  Not only is it FASCINATING, but it really helps to understand why he wrote as he did, ESPECIALLY with respect to Peter Pan.

[Barriesaxxy]

I know very little, but I'm always up for learning more. Any recommendations as to where to look for research on his life?

[AlexanderDavid]

I know very little, but I'm always up for learning more. Any recommendations as to where to look for research on his life?

Well, the obvious place to start would be Andrew Birkin's book, J. M. Barrie and the Lost Boys, but that primarily focuses on his relationship with the Davies brothers more than on any other part of his life.  There are other books, though, but you have to be careful about whether they're accurate or well-written, or whether they have an axe to grind.

There was one--I WISH I could remember what it was called because I'm not finding it online....  If someone else on the forums has read it, they might know what I'm talking about....  It was a bio of Barrie that revolved around his relationships with the women in his life: his mother Margaret Ogilvy, his wife Mary Ansell Barrie, Sylvia Llewelyn-Davies, and Lady Cynthia Asquith.  That was an interesting take, and it made sense--in particular it helped me understand the "before" and "after" parts of his life, meaning before and after the Davies brothers, which Andrew has covered already.  If you can find that one, I would recommend that.

[Jay]

Do you mean Janet Dunbar's JM BARRIE THE MAN BEHIND THE IMAGE? It's a good bio and it does concentrate on his relationships with the four women. It was published by Collins in 1970 and you can find copies on Abebooks and other second hand books websites.

The one to avoid at all costs is Piers Dudgeon's book on the du Mauriers and Barrie - he just makes things up to fit his weird theories and ripped off Andrew's book (without acknowledgement).

[AlexanderDavid]

Do you mean Janet Dunbar's JM BARRIE THE MAN BEHIND THE IMAGE? It's a good bio and it does concentrate on his relationships with the four women. It was published by Collins in 1970 and you can find copies on Abebooks and other second hand books websites.

The one to avoid at all costs is Piers Dudgeon's book on the du Mauriers and Barrie - he just makes things up to fit his weird theories and ripped off Andrew's book (without acknowledgement).

I think that may be it then, yes--at least the cover looks familiar.  I checked out my copy at the library.

Yes, avoid that--and also I think Andrew said to avoid Lisa Chaney's book as well.

[Smee]

You can read what you want, every book can improve your knowledge about Barrie, even Lisa Cheney's can give you some directions -right or wrong, at last you can come to your own conclusions-.

But I agree absolutely with Jay. "Captivated", the Dudgeon's book(?) is the most disgusting crap I have read in all my life. Not only for the things he write about Barrie but the way he distorts the facts to make it serve to his "theory". It's dishonest, repulsive, literally "disgusting", Puaghh!!!

[AlexanderDavid]

You can read what you want, every book can improve your knowledge about Barrie, even Lisa Cheney's can give you some directions -right or wrong, at last you can come to your own conclusions-.

But I agree absolutely with Jay. "Captivated", the Dudgeon's book(?) is the most disgusting crap I have read in all my life. Not only for the things he write about Barrie but the way he distorts the facts to make it serve to his "theory". It's dishonest, repulsive, literally "disgusting", Puaghh!!!

True, I don't think Chaney's book is as bad as Dudgeon's--and it does have a family tree for Barrie, which is something I missed in Andrew's book.

But yes, just make sure you're getting accurate information, whatever your sources are.

[Barriesaxxy]

I did check out Andrew's book from the library yesterday, but thanks for the advice on where to look for further information. I am eager to obtain any and all information I can. I'll look for Dunbar's book today.

[andrew]

Lisa Cheney does quote some interesting material unique to her book, but I can't say that I value her opinions -- unlike W A Darlington's 1938 "J M Barrie" which I think superb, particularly on Barrie as a dramatist (Darlington was theatre critic on the Telegraph for 50+ years)!

Mackail's 1941 biography is "required reading" for any serious Barrie student, albeit a little daunting at times. It also suffers from a style that I personally find rather irritating, but is nevertheless a tour de force, and pretty much indispensable in terms of a blow-by-blow, day-by-day account of JMB's life. Mackail also knew Barrie personally (he was in his Allahakbarrie cricket team for a while) and was an intimate contemporary of the Llewelyn Davies boys (I rather think Jack had an affair with his sister!)

Roger Lancelyn Green's "Fifty Years of Peter Pan" is likewise required reading, and a good deal more enjoyable - he also wrote a slim monograph called simply "J M Barrie") which is excellent - and succinct to boot!

Janet Dunbar is particularly good on Cynthia Asquith... speaking of whom, her "Portrait of Barrie" is fascinating, whatever one's feelings about her role in Barrie's life.

J A Hammerton is the sole source for much of what we know about Barrie's early life, although his style is a little too hagiographic for my taste.

Piers Dudgeon is worthless.       

[Barriesaxxy]

Thanks so much!
I remember seeing Fifty Years of Peter Pan at the library, and I'm pretty sure Mackail's book is there too.
Hee. I'm excited