Barrie, Hook, and Peter Pan: Studies in Contemporary Myth; Estudios Sobre Un Mito Contemporaneo

Peter Pan was born over a century ago. There is something doubly contradictory in this phrase that, although true, is also the reason why this book has been released. We are talking about the boy who will never grow up and the fact that he is celebrating his hundredth birthday should provoke some surprise. At the same time, he is such a powerful icon that it is also true that he seems to have been there, floating in our culture, reappearing in its images, since time immemorial - much farther back than the early twentieth century. This book shows that, although he considered dying to be an awfully big adventure, Peter Pan is, on his one hundredth birthday, more alive than ever. And our prediction is that he will accompany our culture as long as it survives. Like all great myths, Peter will continue bursting through the window of our texts, leading us to other worlds so that when we least expect it, we will hear his cry emanate from a dark ocean. This book, in a sincere tribute, intends to be both a compilation and a precedent - by inspiring a deeper look into its image, we hope to influence the life of this character so dear and yet so mysterious and seductive. Peter Pan ha cumplido un siglo de vida. Hay algo doblemente contradictorio en esta frase que, por lo demas, es cierta y es el motivo por el cual este libro ha visto la luz. Estamos hablando del nino que nunca crece y el hecho de que celebre su cumpleanos numero cien puede provocarnos cierta extraneza. Por otro lado, se trata de un icono tan poderoso que tambien es verdad que parece haber estado ahi, flotando en nuestra cultura, resurgiendo en sus imagenes, desde tiempos inmemoriales mucho mas lejanos que los albores del siglo XX. Este libro muestra que, a pesar de que considere que morir podria resultar una aventura extraordinaria, Peter Pan esta a sus cien anos mas vivo que nunca. Y el panorama pinta, en efecto, para una vida que acompane a nuestra cultura mientras esta sobreviva. Igual que sucede con todos los grandes mitos, Peter seguira irrumpiendo a traves de la ventana de nuestros textos, guiandonos a otros mundos de tal manera que, cuando menos lo esperemos, escucharemos su grito emanar de un oceano oscuro. Este libro, en un sincero homenaje, pretende ser compilacion y precedente y, mediante la provocacion, mediante la motivacion de la profundizacion en su figura, incidir en la trayectoria de la vida de este personaje tan entranable y a la vez tan misterioso y seductor.

Alfonso Munoz Corcuera is a Scholar in the Faculty of Philosophy at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He holds a BA in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature, an MA in Advanced Studies in Philosophy and another MA in Literary Studies. He has published many articles on Peter Pan and was recently awarded the First International Prize for Research in Children’s Literature (ANILIJ, 2011) for the essay Rewriting Peter Pan: The Uncertainty of a Myth with Multiple Originals. He coordinated, with Elisa T. Di Biase, the International Conference A Hundred Years of Peter and Wendy held at Universidad Complutense de Madrid in March 2011. Elisa T. Di Biase is a PhD student at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and is an AECID grant holder. She is writing her thesis on the literary images of Mexico City in postmodern authors. She also does research on the subject of mysticism and erotic literature and art. She received an MA from the UCM working on the sacred female images in Charles Baudelaire and Auguste Rodin’s works. She majored in Hispanic Language and Literatures at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and has worked as a language teacher and as a cultural magazine publisher and editor.