The Little Minister
by J. M. Barrie
On This Page
Description
When published, J.M. Barrie's The Little Minister was quickly identified, along with Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, as one of the two great literary events of the year. Within the space of two years the book had sold in excess of 35,000 copies. Set in 'Thrums', the fictional name for the author's native Kirriemuir, the story follows the wistful love affair of Gavin Dishart, pious 'little' minister of the Auld Licht Kirk, and Babbie, a mysterious gypsy woman who emerges from the show more fairy world of Caddam Wood. Blending realism with romance, humour and pathos, The Little Minister shows all the touches of charm and genius that would come to fruition in the author's later work. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
A young minister, on his first assignment at a church of a strict Scottish sect call Auld Licht (Old Light), falls in love with the most unsuitable woman possible. Gavin Dishart is more mature than Tommy Sandys or Peter Pan (more typical Barrie heroes) and he is a witness to the power of romantic love, but (to his credit) Barrie sets it up in a fairly inobtrusive way. Charming and less heavy than expected.
I tried. So much brogue dialog (Broad Scottish from the 1800s). Deciphering it took my pleasure away, and the story seemed tedious to me. Life is short, and I am old. Did not finish.
"The Little Minister by J. M. Barrie was first published in "Good Words" magazine, spanning the months January to December 1891. Reckoned to be Barrie's best work, it is one of several novels about the fictional village of "Thrums", said to be modeled on Barrie's home town of Kirriemuir. In 1840's Scotland, a young Scottish pastor falls in love with an educated, radiant gypsy girl, who turns out to be a peeress who impersonates a gypsy and smoothes things over between rebellious weavers and the authorities in 1840 Scotland."
Wonderful. Loved it!
Ex-lib. SDL
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Read the book and saw the movie
1,170 works; 192 members
Author Information
436+ Works 31,500 Members
James Matthew Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, was born on May 9, 1860, in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland. His idyllic boyhood was shattered by his brother's death when Barrie was six. His own grief and that of his mother influenced the rest of his life. Through his work, he sought to recapture the carefree joy of his first six years. Barrie came to show more London as a freelance writer in 1885. His early fiction, Auld Licht Idylls (1888) and A Window in Thrums (1889), were inspired by his youth in Kirriemuir. After publishing a biography of his mother Margaret Ogilvy and the autobiographical novel Sentimental Tommy, about a boy living in a dream world (1896), he concentrated on writing plays. The Admirable Crichton (1902), the story of a butler who becomes king of a desert island, helped to establish Barrie's reputation as a playwright. Meanwhile, he began to relive his childhood by telling the first Peter Pan stories to the sons of his friend, Sylvia Llewellyn Davies. The play Peter Pan was first performed in 1904 and published as a novel seven years later. Its imaginative drama, featuring the eternal boy's triumph over the grownup Captain Hook, idealizes childhood and underscores adults' inability to regain it. These resonant themes made it a classic of world literature. Barrie's later work shows his increasingly cynical view of adulthood, particularly in Dear Brutus (1917). Often considered his finest play, it concerns nine men and women whose caprices destroy a miraculous opportunity to relive their lives. Barrie married the former Mary Ansell in 1894. They divorced in 1909, never having any children. Barrie died in London on June 19, 1937. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 552
- Popularity
- 53,481
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (3.31)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 76
- ASINs
- 71
