Second Star to the Right: Peter Pan in the Popular Imagination

by Allison B. Kavey (Editor), Lester D. Friedman (Editor)

Over a century after its first stage performance, Peter Pan has become deeply embedded in Western popular culture, as an enduring part of childhood memories, in every part of popular media, and in commercial enterprises. Since 2003 the characters from this story have had a highly visible presence in nearly every genre of popular two major films, a literary sequel to the original adventures, a graphic novel featuring a grown-up Wendy Darling, and an Argentinean novel about a children's book writer inspired by J. M. Barrie. Simultaneously, Barrie surfaced as the subject of two major biographies and a feature film. The engaging essays in Second Star to the Right approach Pan from literary, dramatic, film, television, and sociological perspectives and, in the process, analyze his emergence and preservation in the cultural imagination.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books

292 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Kate♡]

4/5stars

FANTASTIC collection of Peter Pan scholarship!

I particularly love the chapters by:
Patrick Tuite
Susan Ohmer
David Munns

[Giorgia]

A really interesting collection about Peter Pan. Won't rate because I had to read this for one of my classes

[Becca Lee]

The newest, freshest criticism on Barrie's classic. Problem is, there isn't much being written on Peter Pan in the first place. I can't help but think that if there were hundreds of articles being submitted on Barrie, that a few of these would not have made the cut, or at least would have been substantially cut. Some cool cultural criticism, though. Peter Pan has evolved into a mythology of its own, especially in America. The cultural currency of the Pan legend has changed so many times since Barrie's first publication - not to mention the original slipperiness of the tale itself (is it a play? a few chapters in a book of sketches? a novel? and, be upfront with me, does Peter ride a goat or not?) It's cool to trace the many incarnations of Pan throughout time, whether Barrie's, Disney's, or Broadway's.

Overall, this is a cool collection of essays. Kavey and Fielding are excellent writers. I wish these editors could have been a bit more picky, is all. I would have slimmed down a few of these chapters.

[flajol]

Background reading for EA300 - not a set text. I didn't have time to read all the essays in the book, but will go back to read them once the course has finished and I have more reading time available.

[Wendee]

Some really interesting facts interspersed with a lot of academic mumbo-jumbo. Now I remember why I didn't want to finish AP English....tearing stories apart starts to make them a bit less enjoyable!