I am in a huge mood to discuss Peter Pan with people right now. Concerning the original story, it’s potential, and all of it’s various adaptations.
What is your favorite adaptation of the original story? And do you feel like that one did the original story justice? Or do you still think that we have yet to see a version do that?
Additional question: Who is your favorite Captain Hook?
I believe that the play is actually the original, and it became a novel later. The backstory of Peter Pan is used as some of the detail in AS Byatt’s amazing novel The Children’s Book.
I read Peter Pan a long time ago, and I forget the details. The theory I formed at the time was that Peter was a normal boy living a normal life, but this was his dream. That’s why he suddenly disappears for a while every now and then: he’s woken up, and the dream continues without him. I’d need to re-read to see whether that reading actually has any real support in the text: my memories are pretty vague at this point. I do distinctly remember the book as strange, definitely not a normal children’s story.