I love your writing about adaptation, Edward. It is a process I myself am fascinated with and I'm glad to get such insight into the novel. I myself have only seen the Wicked musical thus far. It's interesting to realize that the source material is quite political - this is not the impression I had of the story from the musical.
I was wondering - have you read the Wizard of the Emerald City? It was a Russian remake of Wizard of Oz that spawned its own book series. The first sequel to it featured a fascinating story of a munchkin that brings to life an army of wooden soldiers and starts a revolution in the Magic Land (not called Oz) that leads to the overthrow of the Scarecrow.
The story was definitely influenced by Russia's communist history and I was reminded of this when I read the description of the Maguire novel.
Yeah, the first two books are quite good. Apparently, there is an English official translation by Peter Blystone called 'Tale of the Magic Land' that collects them.
Enjoyed your review. Wizard of Oz is like so many fairytales with an undercurrent of the political and social culture of the time. What is interesting to me is how little has changed over my 68 yrs.
I watched a YouTube commentary on the Wicked movie, which he pointed out that the movie IS the musical but drawn out. As you pointed out, it's a shame that they didn't use any material from the novel to add to the movie. Wicked still a fun time, otherwise!
I love your writing about adaptation, Edward. It is a process I myself am fascinated with and I'm glad to get such insight into the novel. I myself have only seen the Wicked musical thus far. It's interesting to realize that the source material is quite political - this is not the impression I had of the story from the musical.
I was wondering - have you read the Wizard of the Emerald City? It was a Russian remake of Wizard of Oz that spawned its own book series. The first sequel to it featured a fascinating story of a munchkin that brings to life an army of wooden soldiers and starts a revolution in the Magic Land (not called Oz) that leads to the overthrow of the Scarecrow.
The story was definitely influenced by Russia's communist history and I was reminded of this when I read the description of the Maguire novel.
What! I haven't heard of that but it sounds wild! Maybe I'll have to get my hands on it
Yeah, the first two books are quite good. Apparently, there is an English official translation by Peter Blystone called 'Tale of the Magic Land' that collects them.
Enjoyed your review. Wizard of Oz is like so many fairytales with an undercurrent of the political and social culture of the time. What is interesting to me is how little has changed over my 68 yrs.
I read all the Baum Oz books as a child which greatly expands the backstory.
Yale has some archives: https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/11/resources/1413
Syracuse has some archives: https://library.syracuse.edu/digital/guides/b/baum_lf.htm#d2e53
Columbia has a collector's collection and original drawings : https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/archives/cul-4079640
Very cool!
I watched a YouTube commentary on the Wicked movie, which he pointed out that the movie IS the musical but drawn out. As you pointed out, it's a shame that they didn't use any material from the novel to add to the movie. Wicked still a fun time, otherwise!