Oz

Oz is an imaginary country first introduced in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) by L. Frank Baum. Baum wrote fourteen children's books about Oz and its odd inhabitants. After his death Ruth Plumly Thompson continued the series.

Oz is a squarish shaped place, surrounded on all sides by a Deadly Desert and divided into four quadrants: the Gillikin country in the north, the Munchkin country in the east, the Quadling country in the south and the Winkie country in the west. The Emerald City sits at the center of Oz. Princess Ozma rules the country as a benevolent dictator.

Recurring characters in the series include:

• Dorothy Gale, a girl from Kansas
• The Tin Woodman(Nick Chopper), an enchanted mechanical man and Emperor of the Winkies
• The Scarecrow, a living man made of straw and King of the Emerald City

• The Wizard, the former ruler of Oz, originally Oscar Diggs from Ohio and now a skilled wizard
• The Cowardly Lion, the King of Beasts
• Jack Pumpkinhead, a man made out of twigs
• Tik Tok, a super-intelligent robot
• The Patchwork Girl, a living doll
• The Shaggy Man, another human from "the real world"
• The Nome King, the sinister ruler of an underground empire
• Glinda, a "good witch" and the benevolent ruler of the Gillikins

An interesting side note was the fact, stated in The Tin Woodman of Oz, that no one in Oz could die. Anyone killed would continue to live wounded, beheaded or not. This "fact" was not universally adhered to in the novels, particularly those preceding The Tin Woodman of Oz: for instance The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, although containing perhaps the definitive example of the rule (the Tin Woodman's origin), also has the deaths of two wicked witches.

A legend of uncertain validity is that when relating bedtime stories (the origin of the Oz novels) Baum was asked by one of his listeners the name of the magical land. He glanced at a nearby filing cabinet which was marked O-Z. Thus he named the land Oz. Another story is that Oz is a corruption of Uz, the homeland of Job in the Old Testament.

Bibliography

1. Baum, L. Frank (1900). The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Chicago, New York, George M. Hill Company. LC 03032405. (also reprinted by various publishers under the names The New Wizard of Oz and The Wizard of Oz with occasional minor changes in the text)
2. Baum, L. Frank (1904). The Marvelous Land of Oz. Chicago, Reilly and Britton Company. LC 04017928. (also reprinted as The Land of Oz)
3. Baum, L. Frank (1907). Ozma of Oz. Chicago, Reilly and Britton Company. LC 07024773
4. Baum, L. Frank (1908). Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. Chicago, Reilly and Britton Company. LC 08020022
5. Baum, L. Frank (1909). The Road to Oz. Chicago, Reilly and Britton Company. LC 09019832
6. Baum, L. Frank (1910). The Emerald City of Oz. Chicago, Reilly and Britton Company. LC 10025680
7. Baum, L. Frank (1913). The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Chicago, Reilly and Britton Company.
8. Baum, L. Frank (1914). Tik-Tok of Oz. Chicago, Reilly and Britton Company. LC 14012287
9. Baum, L. Frank (1915). The Scarecrow of Oz. Chicago, Reilly and Britton Company.
10. Baum, L. Frank (1916). Rinkitink in Oz. Chicago, Reilly and Britton Company. LC 16014719
11. Baum, L. Frank (1917). The Lost Princess of Oz. Chicago, Reilly and Britton Company. LC 17016754
12. Baum, L. Frank (1918). The Tin Woodman of Oz. Chicago, Reilly and Britton Company.
13. Baum, L. Frank (1919). The Magic of Oz. Chicago, Reilly and Lee Company. LC 19015894
14. Baum, L. Frank (1920). Glinda of Oz. Chicago, Reilly and Lee Company. LC 20017681

These fourteen books by the original author, another nineteen books by Ruth Plumly Thompson, and another seven books by various authors comprise the "Famous Forty", which is considered the classic original series (though inconsistencies make it difficult to call it canonical). Other books were less well known or failed to remain in print. As the earlier works have fallen out of copyright (including all of L. Frank Baum's titles), numerous other books have been written in the series by many authors and publishers, some of whom continue to publish new works today.

Referenced By