«Muñoz Corcuera, A. & Di Biase E.T. (Eds.). (2012). Barrie, Hook and Peter Pan: Studies in Contemporary Myth; Estudios sobre un mito contemporáneo. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing»

Abstract

Munoz Corcuera, A. & Di Biase E.T. (Eds.). (2012). Barrie, Hook and Peter Pan: Studies in Contemporary Myth; Estudios sobre un mito contemporaneo. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 310 pages. ISBN 978- 1443840026The recent publication of bilingual critical volume Barrie, Hook and Peter Pan, edited by Alfonso Munoz and Elisa T. Di Biase should be applauded for several reasons, least of which, like myth it seeks to explore and celebrate, its being full of magic and wonderful surprises. As many other collections of critical essays, it is a resulting from a scholarly gathering, international conference celebrated at Universidad Complutense de Madrid on 14 and 15 of March 2011, One Hundred Years of Peter and Yet, this is no ordinary volume of conference proceedings. Firstly, fact that a group of Spanish young scholars were responsible for organizing in Madrid only centennial academic celebration of James Matthew Barrie's ground-breaking novel is a first significant event that bespeaks burgeoning influence of English Studies in our country. Secondly, that British publishing house Cambridge Scholars should have edited a volume with nine essays written in English and eight in Spanish -the introductory essay being really only bilingual text- is yet another promising and encouraging sign of increasing acceptance of Spanish as a major influential academic language and a recognition of a distinctively international community of scholars. In this volume there are in fact contributions by academics coming from regions as diverse as Scotland, Mexico, France, United States, Ethiopia and Spain.A deceptively simple cover image of a silver thimble upon a black background, dimly emerging from dark with a caption below stating This is a thimble..., designed by Michelle Erazo, already provides a forceful glimpse into nature of Barrie's and of volume itself. Indeed, deliberate confusion between thimble and kiss that Wendy creates when she asks boy, Surely you know what a kiss is? - and, upon intuiting he does not, gives him instead silver cap not to hurt his feelings1 - is among most memorable scenes of Peter and Wendy. Then, reference to Rene Magritte's iconic painting 'La trahison des images' that cover image further plays with, quoting its tricky inscription Ceci n'est pas une pipe, is intended here so much as an ironic postmodern gesture but rather, one feels, as an homage. In fact, it seems to perfectly to call attention from very beginning to what both art of twentieth century avant-garde and modernist writing sought to dismantle: conventional correspondence between words, objects and images, exploring instead their more complex or hidden relationships. As different as works of Belgian painter and Scottish writer are (and volume here reviewed does intend to establish a connection between them at all), they have both elicited a significant amount of psychoanalytic critical readings. The volume edited by Munoz Corcuera and Di Biase shows that a hundred years after publication of novel psychoanalytic critical apparatus is still most widely chosen tool to unravel mysteries of Barrie's fictional world. It also shows, however, firstly, that this kind of criticism has transcended old analyses centred too much on author, or incapable of distinguishing between authorial persona and narrative voice of a fictional world; and, secondly, that there are many other alternative paths to approach Peter Pan myth and the immense depth and semiological richness of Barrie's work (xiii) . Their multidisciplinary compilation of critical essays, covering a variety of disciplines ranging from literary theory, to postcolonial studies, comparative literature and pedagogy is a good proof of it.The book is divided into six sections that rather than grouping articles according to common theoretical frameworks, juxtaposes them instead under caption of an image emanating from Peter Pan that metaphorically points to thread of reflections(xiv) it discloses, a quite obtuse description to justify what is nonetheless an interesting and evocative choice. …