The world of Oz
In his youth book series beginning with The Wizard of Oz , Lyman Frank Baum tells alleged events from the fictional world of Oz . This article describes this world as well as the essential places, landscapes, peoples and characters mentioned in the novels.
During his lifetime, Baum wrote a total of 14 novels for young people and 6 other shorter books that deal with the world of Oz and its inhabitants. After his death, other authors such as Ruth Plumly Thompson published other Oz-related works.
The world of Oz is originally first covered in Baum's book The Wizard of Oz , in 1900 . However, Baum later integrated other fictional worlds he had devised for further stories . Including the land of Mo from his book The Magical Monarch of Mo from 1896, so that retrospectively that book takes place for the first time in the world of Oz. The land of Oz, however, is treated for the first time in 1900 in The Wizard of Oz .
The world of Oz
In the world of Oz - even if only a few dominate it - magic is a matter of course. As described in Santa Claus - The Adventurous Life of Santa Claus (original title: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus , 1902), it was created by the three powerful immortals Ak , Kern and Bo . All other immortal magical beings are subordinate to them, but they stay in the background. Instead, the four mighty witches of the north, the south, the east and the west intervene in the events of the country. There are also other witches and wizards who are less powerful. Mythical creatures of various kinds are also not uncommon in Oz. However, a large part of the population are people without magical abilities.
The world of Oz consists of the land of Oz, the surrounding Deadly Desert and other countries that Baum initially devised for other works independently of his Oz stories. These include Land Ix from Queen Zixi of Ix (1904/5) and Land Mo from The Magical Monarch of Mo (1896). The former land that was introduced into Baum's World of Oz alongside the Land of Oz was Land Ev , which Baum described in 1907 in the third book of his Oz series, Princess Ozma of Oz .
The land of Oz is separated from the other countries by the deadly desert and protected from external attacks by it. In the sixth book in the series, Dorothy in the Emerald City (1910), the good witch Glinda adds a magical barrier to this natural protection that makes the land of Oz invisible. Nevertheless, in the other novels a number of people manage to travel back and forth between Oz and the surrounding countries.
The Land of Oz
The country of Oz has roughly a rectangular outer border. It consists of four sections, which are roughly adjacent to one another along the diagonal of the rectangle. The four parts are:
- Munchkin Country to the east (domain of the Wicked Witch of the East)
- Winkie Country to the west (domain of the Wicked Witch of the West),
- Gillikin Country in the north and (temporarily ruled by the Wicked Witch of the North Mombi before she was driven out by the Good Witch of the North)
- Quadling Country to the south (Good Witch Sanctuary of the South, Glinda).
- In the heart of the country is the Emerald City . It is the capital of Oz that does not belong to any of the four sub- kingdoms and the seat of the Monarch of Oz, Princess Ozma of Oz , as well as, during her temporary kidnapping, the Truchsess , the Wizard of Oz .
Resident of Oz
The inhabitants of Oz are named after the part of the kingdom in which they live (e.g. Munchkins). Most of the residents are people. There are also wizards and witches as well as mythical creatures such as unicorns and the winged monkeys and a number of talking animals. Many people live in cities. Some, however, also in somewhat more isolated regions of their country, so that they do not notice much of what is happening in the country. This is especially true for the residents of the outer peripheral regions. As explained in Volume 12, The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918), none of the inhabitants of Oz have died of natural causes since the magic of the fairy queen Lurline . Only guests from the normal world like Dorothy Gale or the Wizard of Oz are normal mortals.
In other media
The world of Oz is the subject of several cinema and television productions:
Cinema productions
- The Wizard of Oz - 1939 film based on the novel of the same name .
- The Wiz - The Magical Land - musical film from 1978 with Michael Jackson (as the Scarecrow) and Diana Ross (as Dorothy), based on the Broadway musical of the same name, which was based on The Wizard of Oz .
- Oz - A Fantastic World - sequel to the 1939 film from 1985, based on the novels In the Realm of the Wizard Oz and Princess Ozma of Oz .
- Muppets: The Wizard of Oz (Original title: The Muppets' Wizard of Oz) is an American musical film from 2005 with the puppets from the Muppet Show .
- The Return of Oz (Original title: After the Wizard) - American film produced in 2011, which is based on The Wizard of Oz .
- The Fantastic World of Oz - Backstory to the 1939 film from 2013, not based on any of the novels.
TV productions
- In the Land of Oz - An episode from the Shirley Temple's Storybook series (Season 2, Episode 1) produced in 1961 in which Shirley Temple plays Princess Ozma and the boy Tip. The 50-minute episode is based on In the Realm of the Wizard Oz .
- In the Land of the Wizard of Oz (Original title: Oz no Mahoutsukai) - 52-part Japanese cartoon series from 1986/87. The series was broadcast in Germany from August 13, 1998 to June 9, 2000 on RTL II in the early program and from September 11, 2000 to December 29, 2000 on tm3 .
- The OZ Kids - 26-part US animated film series by ABC , which was produced from 1994 to 1996. In Germany, the series ran from July 17, 1997 to August 21, 1997 on Super RTL .
- Tin Man - The Battle for the Emerald of Light - 3-part American TV mini-series from 2007 based on the Wizard of Oz .
- The Witches of Oz - 2-part American TV mini-series from 2011.
Stage productions
- Wicked - The Witches of Oz (Musical) (Original title: Wicked - The Untold Story Of The Witches Of Oz) is based on the bestseller Wicked - The Witches of Oz (novel) by Gregory Maguire .
Sources / literature
- Baum, LF (1900), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ; reprinted mostly under the title: The Wizard of Oz (German publication as: Der Zauberer von Oz , 1940)
- Baum, LF (1904), The Marvelous Land of Oz: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman ; mostly known under the short title The Land of Oz (German publication as: Im Reich des Zauberers Oz , 1981)
- Baum, LF (1907), Ozma of Oz (German publication as: Princess Ozma of Oz , 1981)
- Baum, LF (1908), Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (German published as: Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz , 1999)
- Baum, LF (1909), The Road to Oz (German publication as: Dorothy auf Zauberwege , 2000)
- Baum, LF (1910), The Emerald City of Oz (German publication as: Dorothy in der Smaragdenstadt , 2000)
- Baum, LF (1913), The Patchwork Girl of Oz (German publication as: Dorothy und das Patchwork-Mädchen , 2002)
- Baum, LF (1914), Tik-Tok of Oz (German publication as: Tik-Tak von Oz, 2018; Ebook as Tik-Tok of Oz [with glossary in German])
- Baum, LF (1915), The Scarecrow of Oz (German publication as: The Scarecrow of Oz, 2018)
- Baum, LF (1916), Rinkitink in Oz (German publication as: Rinkitink in Oz, 2018)
- Baum, LF (1917), The Lost Princess of Oz (German publication as: The Disappeared Princess of Oz, 2019)
- Baum, LF (1918), The Tin Woodman of Oz (German publication as: Der Blechmann von Oz, 2019)
- Baum, LF (1919), The Magic of Oz (German publication as: Die Magie von Oz, 2019)
- Baum, LF (1920), Glinda of Oz (German publication as: Glinda von Oz, 2019)
- Baum, LF (1896), The Magical Monarch of Mo (no German publication so far)
- Baum, LF (1902) The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (German publication as: Santa Claus - The adventurous life of Santa Claus, 1993 and The Santa Claus or the adventurous life of Santa Claus, 2010)
- Baum, LF (1904/5), Queen Zixi of Ix (no German publication so far)