redwhale:

bewareofitalics:

I think I may have solved a mystery that I didn’t even know was one.

So. In Peter Pan, the novel, this is the first mention of Captain Hook:

“Who is captain now?”

“Hook,” answered Peter, and his face became very stern as he said that hated word.

“Jas. Hook?”

“Ay.”

Then indeed Michael began to cry, and even John could speak in gulps only, for they knew Hook’s reputation.

“He was Blackbeard’s bo’sun,” John whispered huskily. “He is the worst of them all. He is the only man of whom Barbecue was afraid.”

Later, we learn this:

Hook was not his true name. To reveal who he really was would even at this date set the country in a blaze; but as those who read between the lines must already have guessed, he had been at a famous public school; and its traditions still clung to him like garments, with which indeed they are largely concerned.

“Barbecue” is Long John Silver from Treasure Island. Jas. is short for James, but in “Captain Hook at Eton,” he’s also called Jacobus. The biblical figure Jacob was renamed Israel.

Blackbeard’s historical boatswain, and also a character in Treasure Island, was Israel Hands.

I’m just saying, if I got a hand chopped off and my last name was Hands… I might want to change it.

‘Lost’ letters reveal JM Barrie and Robert Louis Stevenson’s mutual affection

Many kudos to OP, I’m still processing Captain Hook = Israel Hands. Because of this post, I stumbled upon this 2020 article. It is a fascinating and bittersweet read about Barrie, Stevenson, and the Peter Pan+Treasure Islandconnections.

Now, the letters of JM Barrie to Robert Louis Stevenson – presumed to be lost by several key Barrie biographers for over 70 years - will be published for the first time in a forthcoming book. The letters reveal how ardently the young Barrie both adored and admired Stevenson, who was an older and more established writer. A year into their friendship, which was initiated by Stevenson, Barrie wrote to him: “To be blunt I have discovered (have suspected it for some time) that I love you, and if you had been a woman…” He leaves the sentence unfinished.

and

Barrie has a real desire to incorporate Stevenson and his affection for Stevenson in his works, he believes. “I think what Barrie is saying is: if I can never meet Stevenson, because he has unfortunately died, then I want to create the opportunity for our characters to meet.

“I think he liked that idea that they could occupy the same world, and could potentially bump into each other.”

Box Hill New for 2022

Box Hill New for 2022

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Peter Pan, done with iPad Pro and procreate.

To fly we should be brave enough to jump.

maybe-this-time:

Everyone always wants to talk about Hook or Pan. Everyone always wants to debate which one is good and which is evil - who we’re supposed to follow and who we aren’t. The Peter Pan mythos has pretty much shrunk down to nothing but Hook and Pan (Hook, SyFy’s Neverland, Pan, OUAT, etc). Occasionally Tinkerbell factors in (Hook, Disney’s Tinkerbell, OUAT, etc). There’s one character, however, that always gets sidelined - which is puzzling since they are the main character of both the play and the book. That character is, of course, Wendy Darling.

Peter Pan is Wendy’s coming of age story. Wendy who decides to run away from home. Wendy who realizes that she must grow up - and that there’s no shame in that. Wendy who sees Peter as deficient and sees Hook as empty and decides that, no, she doesn’t want to be a part of that. Wendy gets the adventure she’s always wanted and she turns away because she realizes that it’s lacking. She’s the only one who truly sees the hollowness of being young forever. Barrie even says “You need not be sorry for her. She was one of the kind that likes to grow up. In the end she grew up of her own free will a day quicker than other girls.”

People always debate on who the hero is. When they learn that Peter could be horrid they assume it has to be Hook. Of course, the answer is that neither of them are the hero. Wendy is the hero of the story. You’re not supposed to be like Peter, who kept every good and bad aspects of being a child and can’t tell right from wrong. You’re not supposed to be Hook, either. He let go of everything childish and loving about him and became bitter and evil. They’re both the extreme ends of the scale. You’re supposed to fall in the middle, to hold onto the things about childhood that make it beautiful - the wonder, the imagination, the innocence - while still growing up and learning morality and responsibility. You’re not supposed to be Hook. You’re not supposed to be Peter Pan.

You’re supposed to be Wendy Darling. 

Shout out to Wendy Moira Angela Darling, my childhood avatar and ultimate homegirl.

“En realidad no era sábado por la noche, aunque podría haberlo sido, ya que hacía tiempo que habían perdido la cuenta de los días, pero siempre que querían hacer algo especial decían que era sábado por la noche y entonces lo hacían.”

-James M. Barrie, Peter Pan-

Lo hicimos porque nunca crecimos.

Porque si crecer era dejar de crear,

al parecer nunca supimos parar

y soltamos nuestras carcajadas

hechas música y poesía

como si nos viesen en gradas.

Cuando le pones pasión a un trabajo

todos los días pueden ser sábado,

puedes pasar todas tus movidas

y pueden posarte todos sus párpados.

Yo no sé si podré vivir del arte,

lo que digo es que no puedo vivir sin el arte.