Baum's Magic Powder of Life
1980; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 8; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/chl.0.0278
ISSN1543-3374
Autores ResumoBaum's Magic Powder of Life Roger Sale (bio) The Oz Scrapbook, by David L. Greene and Dick Martin. New York: Random House, 1977. W. W. Denslow, by Douglas G. Greene and Michael Patrick Hearn. [Mount Pleasant, MI]: Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University, 1976. Order from the publisher, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859. Bibliographia Oziana: A Concise Bibliographic Checklist of the Oz Books by L. Frank Baum and His Successors, by Peter E. Hanff, Douglas G. Greene, et al.[Kinderhook, IL]: International Wizard of Oz Club, 1976. Currently out of print but inquiries may be addressed to the publisher, Box 95, Kinderhook, IL 62345. L. Frank Baum reprints by Dover Publications of New York: Queen Zixi of Ix; The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus; The Master Key; John Dough and the Cherub; The Magical Monarch of Mo; American Fairy Tales. Order from the publisher, 180 Varick St., New York, NY 10014. The Purple Dragon and Other Fantasies, by L. Frank Baum. Selected by David L. Greene. Lakemont, GA: Fictioneer Books, 1976. Order from the publisher, c/o Krafthaus, Clayton, GA 30525. We first see L. Frank Baum's Magic Powder of Life in The Marvelous Land of Ozwhen Tip steals a shaker of the stuff from old Mombi and brings Jack Pumpkinhead, the Saw Horse, and the Gump to life. In The Patchwork Girl of OzScraps lurches to life when given a little and, as she does so, spills Liquid of Petrifaction on Une Nunkie and Margolotte. In John Dough and the Cherubit is called the Great Elixir, and the baker, Jules Grogrande, makes his gingerbread grow both large and grand when he accidentally gives it a dose. Baum had such success in creating the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman in The Wizard of Ozthat he kept having to find magic that would make inert things breathe. [End Page 157] Of course he made much better than he knew. Sixty years after his death his books are more popular and alive than they ever were. Part of the credit goes to the continued efforts of those who collect his work as treasures, who run The Baum Bugleand the International Wizard of Oz Club. Part goes to the current interest in children's books, part to his two major illustrators, W. W. Denslow and John R. Neill, but most goes to Baum himself. Much of what he wrote seems inert, brittle, and dated, the work of a hack; but much of it is seasoned with the magic powder of life, too, for which there is no replacement when it comes to knowing which of the world's books will live. Some recent books about Baum matters, plus some reprints from among Baum's many non-Oz books, give us a chance to look again at the appeal of his unlikely genius. The Oz Scrapbook, by David L. Greene and Dick Martin, is an almost perfect coffee table book, a lavish collection of pictures accompanied by a readable text that starts with Baum's career and carries on to non-Baum Oz books, Oz theatrical and movie productions, and Oz artifacts. Greene and Martin make no pretense of offering anything new, but it is hard to imagine even a casual Baum reader who will not find their work worth a good deal more than its modest price. The pictures are so good that they occasionally have the effect of neatly rebutting the text. Greene and Martin say, for instance, " The Road to Ozis the poorest Baum book in the series." Since the last three-fifths of the book is padding, one knows quite well what they mean. Yet I also know why the first hundred pages, Dorothy's last journey out of Kansas and into Oz, are for me among the high points in Baum, and why Button Bright's "Don't want pie for breakfus'" is one of my favorite Oz lines. But what The Oz Scrapbookshows is how wrong it is to overlook the importance of John R. Neill in assessing any Oz book. The Road, and The Emerald Citywhich followed it, represent a distinct phase, perhaps the high point in all...
Referência(s)