Echoes of the War (Annotated) E-Book

J.m Barrie

• Herausgeber: ePembaBooks
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

• This edition includes the following editor's introduction: The traumatic life of J. M. Barrie, source of universal creativity

Originally published in 1918, “Echoes of the War” is a wonderful collection of four short stories involving families affected by First World War by Scottish novelist J. M. Barrie, most famous for writing the children’s story Peter Pan.

In “Echoes of the War,” each of the stories deals with civilian life in London during the war with a touch of drama but also moments of humour. The stories are condensed, but also very well constructed.

Leseprobe

J. M. Barrie

Echoes of the War

Table of contents

The traumatic life of J. M. Barrie, source of universal creativity

ECHOES OF THE WAR

The Old Lady Shows Her Medals

The New Word

Barbara's Wedding

A Well-remembered Voice

The traumatic life of J. M. Barrie, source of universal creativity

A trauma that marked the life of the creator of Peter Pan. Although he was born into a British Victorian high society family, his childhood was not a joyful one. The creator of Peter Pan, James Matthew Barrie, when he was 6 years old, his brother David, 13, died when he fell with his skates into a frozen lake. He was his mother's favourite (there were 10 siblings in all) and she never recovered from this tragic loss. When the woman was in her room and James or any of the other children came in, she always thought it was David. When she realized this was not true, she treated them very badly. Also, the father had no contact whatsoever with his children. A child who became an adult too soon. James always wanted to please his mother and take the place left by his brother. She educated him and instilled in him a love of books and study. She always treated him as if he were older than his age (thinking perhaps that she was talking to David). In this way, she did not take into account James' actual age, so the influence of her upbringing would have consequences both psychologically and emotionally. James became a child with adult thinking and behaviour. He was very unhealthy, afraid to grow up, did not relate to other children, was obsessed with the idea that marriage was a disgrace and was very melancholic. Sad and lonely child. The only joys he had in his childhood were related to the adventure books of Robert L. Stevenson and to spending very brief moments with his siblings, neighbours and friends younger than him. Another of the problems he had to face was that his height did not increase in relation to his growing years, reaching five feet tall in his adulthood. Youth, London and his marriage. The life of Peter Pan's creator will change dramatically when he travels to the English capital and settles there, where he will open his mind and will be able to develop and write better. Among his friends at the University were Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert L. Stevenson, who in turn worked on the faculty newspaper. He also forged a friendship with Charles Frohman, producer of his works and victim of the Lusitania ship that was sunk in World War I, an event that marked James considerably. As for his personal life, he married British actress Mary Ansell in 1894, but they divorced a few years later. There are several theories regarding the end of their marriage, one of the strongest is that she married him because of his social position and the fame he could offer her. Another hypothesis says that the marriage was never consummated because he was not looking for a sexual partner but for a mother. At the time of the separation Mary was dating another man. The belief of the creator of Peter Pan that love was a misfortune could have caused the end of their marriage. After the divorce, James sought solace in friendship with brothers he met on a walk in Kensington. These children were named George, Jack, Nico, Peter and Michael. When their parents died he adopted them and from there he was inspired to write the most important novel of his career, "The Adventures of Peter Pan", which was published at the beginning of the 20th century. But there is also tragedy in this story, as George died in the war, Michael committed suicide by drowning himself in a lake with his lover (he was homosexual) and Peter threw himself under a subway car some years later. The literary career of the creator of Peter Pan. Several of his works were set during his years in Kirriemuir, Scotland, and it was common for some of the stories' dialogues to be written in Scottish. He later wrote plays such as "Quality Street" (1901), "What Every Woman Knows" (1908) and "The Admirable Crichton" (1932). The last of this style was called "The Boy David" and was performed in 1936. He also specialized in novels, which were very successful in his time. Some of them are "Auld Licht Idylls" (1888), "A Window in Thrums" (1889), "The Little Minister" (1891) and "Sentimental Tommy, The Story of His Boyhood " (1896) with "Tommy and Grizel" (1902), related to what later would be the character of Peter Pan. This was undoubtedly his best known work, which was performed for the first time in December 1904 but had the name of "Wendy", inspired by a girl who had died at the age of five in 1894, which he knew. However, Peter Pan as a character had appeared earlier, in a book of stories called "The Little White Bird." In this work, completed in 1904, he deals with his favourite themes: the feminine instinct of motherhood and the preservation of childhood innocence. The eternal adolescent was the protagonist of the story, who left the family home to avoid becoming an adult. In Kensington Gardens, London, you can see the statue of this character. The same place where Barrie met the Llewalyn Davies brothers, on whom he based the story.

Later, like the rest of Europeans, the First World War marked Barrie's life, and also his work. In 1918 he published " Echoes of the War", a delightful collection of stories about the life of several families in London during the war. James Matthew Barrie died in June 1937 of pneumonia and was buried in his Scottish hometown, Kirriemuir, next to his parents and two of his nine siblings. The creator of Peter Pan left his entire estate (except for the proceeds of Peter Pan which went to Great Ormond Street Hospital) to his secretary Cynthia Asquith.

Life and literature. James Matthew Barrie was not the only author with a complicated life and famous work. Edgar Allan Poe, Emile Cioran, Charles Bukowski, even Oscar Wilde himself, persecuted for his homosexuality, have been tormented writers at one or more points in their lives. Some even from the time they were born until they died. In a way, James reflects how to take advantage of a difficult life to capture it in stories that would go down in history, such as "Peter Pan."

Despite being shaken by misfortune, Barrie knew how to channel his creativity through literature and leave his mark over time. Would his work have been the same without having lived through everything he did? Would we be able to enjoy "Peter Pan" today without a life full of sad events? What James Matthew Barrie's story reflects, is that misfortune can be channelled and not only in the form of anger, but in the form of art. An art that can remain immortalized by great stories.

The Editor, P.C. 2022

ECHOES OF THE WAR

J. M. Barrie

The Old Lady Shows Her Medals

Three nice old ladies and a criminal, who is even nicer, are discussing the war over a cup of tea. The criminal, who is the hostess, calls it a dish of tea, which shows that she comes from Caledonia; but that is not her crime.

They are all London charwomen, but three of them, including the hostess, are what are called professionally 'charwomen and' or simply 'ands.' An 'and' is also a caretaker when required; her name is entered as such in ink in a registry book, financial transactions take place across a counter between her and the registrar, and altogether she is of a very different social status from one who, like Mrs. Haggerty, is a charwoman but nothing else. Mrs. Haggerty, though present, is not at the party by invitation; having seen Mrs. Dowey buying the winkles, she followed her downstairs, so has shuffled into the play and sat down in it against our wish. We would remove her by force, or at least print her name in small letters, were it not that she takes offence very readily and says that nobody respects her. So, as you have slipped in, you sit there, Mrs. Haggerty; but keep quiet.

There is nothing doing at present in the caretaking way for Mrs. Dowey, our hostess; but this does not damp her, caretaking being only to such as she an extra financially and a halo socially. If she had the honour of being served with an income–tax paper she would probably fill in one of the nasty little compartments with the words, 'Trade—charring; Profession (if any)—caretaking.' This home of hers (from which, to look after your house, she makes occasionally temporary departures in great style, escorting a barrow) is in one of those what–care–I streets that you discover only when you have lost your way; on discovering them, your duty is to report them to the authorities, who immediately add them to the map of London. That is why we are now reporting Friday Street. We shall call it, in the rough sketch drawn for to–morrow's press, 'Street in which the criminal resided'; and you will find Mrs. Dowey's home therein marked with a X.

Her abode really consists of one room, but she maintains that there are two; so, rather than argue, let us say that there are two. The other one has no window, and she could not swish her old skirts in it without knocking something over; its grandest display is of tin pans and crockery on top of a dresser which has a lid to it; you have but to whip off the utensils and raise the lid, and, behold, a bath with hot and cold. Mrs. Dowey is very proud of this possession, and when she shows it off, as she does perhaps too frequently, she first signs to you with closed fist (funny old thing that she is) to approach softly. She then tiptoes to the dresser and pops off the lid, as if to take the bath unawares. Then she sucks her lips, and is modest if you have the grace to do the exclamations.

In the real room is a bed, though that is putting the matter too briefly. The fair way to begin, if you love Mrs. Dowey, is to say to her that it is a pity she has no bed. If she is in her best form she will chuckle, and agree that the want of a bed tries her sore; she will keep you on the hooks, so to speak, as long as she can; and then, with that mouse–like movement again, she will suddenly spring the bed on you. You thought it was a wardrobe, but she brings it down from the wall; and lo, a bed. There is nothing else in her abode (which we now see to contain four rooms—kitchen, pantry, bedroom, and bathroom) that is absolutely a surprise; but it is full of 'bits,' every one of which has been paid ready money for, and gloated over and tended until it has become part of its owner. Genuine Doweys, the dealers might call them, though there is probably nothing in the place except the bed that would fetch half–a–crown.

Her home is in the basement, so that the view is restricted to the lower half of persons passing overhead beyond the area stairs. Here at the window Mrs. Dowey sometimes sits of a summer evening gazing, not sentimentally at a flower–pot which contains one poor bulb, nor yearningly at some tiny speck of sky, but with unholy relish at holes in stockings, and the like, which are revealed to her from her point of vantage. You, gentle reader, may flaunt by, thinking that your finery awes the street, but Mrs. Dowey can tell (and does) that your soles are in need of neat repair.

Also, lower parts being as expressive as the face to those whose view is thus limited, she could swear to scores of the passers–by in a court of law.

These four lively old codgers are having a good time at the tea–table, and wit is flowing free. As you can see by their everyday garments, and by their pails and mops (which are having a little tea–party by themselves in the corner), it is not a gathering by invitations stretching away into yesterday, it is a purely informal affair; so much more attractive, don't you think? than banquets elaborately prearranged. You know how they come about, especially in war–time. Very likely Mrs. Dowey met Mrs. Twymley and Mrs. Mickleham quite casually in the street, and meant to do no more than the time of day; then, naturally enough, the word camouflage was mentioned, and they got heated, but in the end Mrs. Twymley apologised; then, in the odd way in which one thing leads to another, the winkle man appeared, and Mrs. Dowey remembered that she had that pot of jam and that Mrs. Mickleham had stood treat last time; and soon they were all three descending the area stairs, followed cringingly by the Haggerty Woman.

They have been extremely merry, and never were four hard–worked old ladies who deserved it better. All a woman can do in war–time they do daily and cheerfully. Just as their men–folk are doing it at the Front; and now, with the mops and pails laid aside, they sprawl gracefully at ease. There is no intention on their part to consider peace terms until a decisive victory has been gained in the field (Sarah Ann Dowey), until the Kaiser is put to the right–about (Emma Mickleham), and singing very small (Amelia Twymley).

At this tea–party the lady who is to play the part of Mrs. Dowey is sure to want to suggest that our heroine has a secret sorrow, namely, the crime; but you should see us knocking that idea out of her head! Mrs. Dowey knows she is a criminal, but, unlike the actress, she does not know that she is about to be found out; and she is, to put it bluntly in her own Scotch way, the merriest of the whole clanjamfry. She presses more tea on her guests, but they wave her away from them in the pretty manner of ladies who know that they have already had more than enough.