Publisher's Synopsis
J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) is today known almost exclusively for one work: Peter Pan. Although in the early twentieth century he was a hugely successful playwright and novelist, many critics still fail to include him in surveys of fin de siŠcle literature or drama. Perhaps Barrie's remarkable variety of output has prevented him from being taken to the centre of critical discussions in any one area of literary criticism or history. Is Barrie predominantly a novelist or a playwright? Is he Victorian, Decadent, Edwardian or Modernist? Gateway to the Modern is a collection of essays on Barrie, surveying the extraordinary range of his literary achievement. What emerges is a significant writer, fully immersed in the literary and intellectual culture of his day.
