Barrie's Life

Barrie was born in 1860. He was raised in a small Scottish town named Kirriemur. His mother, Margaret Ogilvy, was his biggest influence in his life. Barrie was the 9th child out of 10 children. When the youngest child died, his mother went into a depression over the loss of her favorite child. Barrie began dressing in the dead brothers clothes which began the close bond between him and his mother. He recieved some of his ideas for Peter Pan from storiesshe would tell him about her childhood. Barrie wrote most of his stories from personal experiences that inspired him. He would carry around notebooks to jot down ideas. In these notebooks, it is easy to get a sense of who Barrie was as a person. Many of his notes were about his fear but love of women. "Women are not at all terrible but a woman is." (JMB team Notebook: 6, Note 118). "Only safeguard against women is to know a number of them." (JMB team Notebook 6, Note 119). He even wrote he "Used to wake with horror from dreaming he was married" (JMB Team Notebook 6, Note 108). He was finally married to an actress, Mary Ansell, in 1894. His marriage did not last, however. They divorced 15 years later in 1909. The marriage produced no children but Barrie later adopted 5 orphan brothers, whom he had known. Barrie's greatest success was Peter Pan. Barrie died in 1937 having completed over 85 varies works.

photo- jmbarrie.co.uk

Gillian Avery "Barrie, J. M." The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. Edited by Jack Zipes. Oxford University Press 2006. Central Washington University. 9 June 2009 http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t204.e0213