Barrie, J. M. (1860-1937), was a Scottish playwright and novelist. Barrie wrote more than 35 plays. His best-known play is Peter Pan (1904), a fantasy about a magical boy who refuses to grow up. For more information about the play, see Peter Pan.
Barrie’s other plays are generally more realistic than Peter Pan. Several of them mix a satiric look at British society with open sentimentality. In The Admirable Crichton (1902), a group of upper-class English are shipwrecked on a desert island. They are helpless until their butler proves to be their leader. The play gently pokes fun at British attitudes toward social classes. In What Every Woman Knows (1908), the meek wife of a politician secretly guides her husband’s successful career. Barrie’s other plays include Quality Street (1901), Alice Sit-by-the-Fire (1905), A Kiss for Cinderella (1916), Dear Brutus (1917), and Mary Rose (1920).
James Matthew Barrie was born on May 9, 1860, in Kirriemuir, Scotland, the son of weavers. After completing his university studies in Scotland, he became a journalist in Nottingham and then in London. Barrie began writing novels in the 1880’s. His first major success was The Little Minister (1891), a sentimental romantic novel about a shy preacher and the rebellious girl who marries him. Barrie also wrote Sentimental Tommy (1896), a novel about a young man with an overactive imagination. Barrie’s first play was produced in 1891. A dramatized version of The Little Minister in 1897 made him rich and famous. The play’s success enabled Barrie to give up journalism to devote himself to a literary career. King George V made Barrie a baronet in 1913, and he became known as Sir James Barrie. He died on June 19, 1937.
