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“There lived in the Land of Oz two queerly made men”: Queer Utopianism and Antisocial Eroticism in L. Frank Baum’s Oz Series

2008; Wayne State University Press; Volume: 22; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/mat.2008.a258005

1536-1802

Tison Pugh,

Media, Gender, and Advertising

As a land of marvels and fairies, L. Frank Baum’s Oz is a queer place. Within much of children’s literature, the word queer typically refers to constructions of odd and marvelous events and places rather than to characters who are resistant to constructions of sexual (hetero)normativity. The dividing line between asexual and sexual queerness, however, can be quite blurry, and this essay explores how the fantasies of Oz subvert normative constructions of gender and sexuality. After analyzing gender and sexual roles in Oz, the essay concludes that the utopianism of Oz is counterbalanced by a queer eroticism that undermines the foundations of normative genders.