Lyman Frank Baum: biography, creativity. Oz books

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Who doesn't know Volkov's fairy tale about the girl Ellie, who ended up in the Magic Land? But not everyone knows that in reality Volkov's essay is just a free retelling of the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which was written by Lyman Frank Baum. In addition to this fairy tale, Baum devoted thirteen more works to the universe of Oz, in addition, other equally interesting children's fairy tales came out from under his pen.

Baum Lyman Frank: a biography of the early years

Frank was born in May 1856 in the family of a cooper in the small American town of Chittenango. Due to heart problems in the baby, doctors predicted a short life for him - 3-4 years, but, to everyone's surprise, the boy outlived all his brothers and sisters.

Shortly after Frank was born, his father became rich and was able to provide his children with the best conditions for growing up. Baum's entire childhood was spent on the family farm, where he was taught by private teachers.

Early carried away by books, Baum soon read the entire hugefather's library, which aroused his pride. Baum's favorite authors were Dickens and Thackeray.

In 1868 the boy was sent to the military academy at Peekskill. True, Frank soon persuaded his parents to take him home.

One day a guy received a miniature printing press for newspapers as a birthday present from his father. Together with his brother, they began to publish a family newspaper. The home newspaper of the Baums published not only chronicles of family life, but also the first fairy tales written by young Frank.

From the age of seventeen, the writer was seriously fond of philately and tried to publish his own magazine dedicated to this topic. He later worked as a director of a bookstore. His next hobby was breeding thoroughbred chickens. Baum even devoted a book to this topic - it was published just when the guy was twenty years old. However, later he lost interest in chickens and became interested in theater.

Baum's personal life

After some time with a traveling theater, Lyman Frank Baum met the beautiful Maud at the age of twenty-five, and a year later they got married. The parents of Frank's beloved did not really like the dreamy son-in-law, but his father's we alth forced them to agree to this marriage.

Frank and Maud had four sons, whom Baum loved very much and often told bedtime stories of his own composition.

Over time, he began to write them down, and soon published them - this is how Baum's writing career began.

A successful writing career

After the success of the first children's book throughFor a couple of years, Baum wrote a sequel, Father Goose: His Book. However, as he watched his own babies grow up, he realized that it was necessary to write a fairy tale for older children who were no longer interested in reading about the adventures of geese in the barnyard. So the idea was born to write about the girl Dorothy, who accidentally ended up in the fairy land of Oz.

In 1900, the debut tale of the Oz series was published. This work instantly gained popularity, and tens of thousands of children began to read out the fascinating adventures of Dorothy. On the wave of success, the author published a fairy tale about Santa Claus, and two years later - its continuation. However, readers all expected from him a new book about a fairy-tale land, and in 1904 another fairy tale of the Oz cycle appeared.

Baum's last years

Trying to get away from the topic of Oz, Baum wrote other tales, but readers were not so interested in them. Later, the writer completely switched to writing books about a magical land. In total, Baum devoted fourteen books to her, the last two of which were published after the death of the writer, who died in 1919 from heart problems. It is noteworthy that the Oz cycle was so popular that even after the death of its creator, other writers began to publish numerous sequels. Of course, they were inferior to the original.

Summary of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The main character of the most popular first part and most of the other books in the cycle was the orphan Dorothy (Volkov renamed her Ellie).

In the first book, a girl with her faithful dog Toto is taken to Oz by a powerful hurricane. Trying to return home, at the prompt of the good sorceress, Dorothy goes to the Emerald City to Oz, who rules in it. Along the way, the girl befriends the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. All of them need something from the wizard, and he promises to fulfill their requests if their friends will save the country from the evil sorceress. After overcoming many challenges, each hero gets what they want.

The plot of The Wonderful Land of Oz

In the second book, the main character is a servant of the evil witch Mombi Tip. One day, the boy escapes from her, taking with him a magic powder that can breathe life into inanimate objects. Having reached the Emerald City, he helps the Scarecrow escape from there, as the city is captured by an army of militant knitting maidens led by Ginger. Together they ask the Tin Woodman and Glinda (the good sorceress) for help. It turns out that they need to find the true ruler of the city - the disappeared Princess Ozma. After a while, it turns out that Type is Ozma, enchanted by the witch Mombi. Having regained her true appearance, the princess and her friends regain power as well.

The plot of Ozma of Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, Journey to Oz, and The Emerald City of Oz

Girly Dorothy reappears in the third book. Here she, along with Billina the chicken, finds herself in the Magic Land. The girl is horrified to learn the tragic story of the royal family Yves. Trying to help them, shewas not deprived of his own head. However, after meeting Princess Ozma (who arrived to help the royal family in the company of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman), Dorothy manages to break the spell on the Eve family and return home.

In the fourth book, as a result of an earthquake, Dorothy with her cousin Jeb and decrepit horse Jim get into a magical land of glass cities. Here they meet the wizard Oz and the kitten Eureka. To get out of this not at all friendly country, the heroes have to overcome a lot. The journey ends again in the land of Oz, where the girl is expected by good old friends who help her and her companions to return home.

In the fifth book of the series, Princess Ozma had a birthday party where she really wanted to see Dorothy. To do this, she confused all the roads, and the girl, showing the way to a tramp named Shaggy, got lost herself and, after numerous wanderings and adventures, ended up in the land of Oz to Ozma.

In the sixth story of the "Land of Oz" series, due to problems on the farm, Dorothy's family moves to live in the Magic Land. However, trouble loomed over the Emerald City - the evil king, who is building an underground passage, is trying to capture it.

The rest of Baum's Fairyland stories

Baum intended to complete the epic "The Emerald City of Oz". After that, he tried to write fairy tales about other heroes. But young readers wanted to continue the adventures of their favorite characters. Ultimately, at the urging of readers and publishers, Baum continued the cycle. In subsequent years, six more stories were published: “Patchwork from the countryOz, Tik-Tok of Oz, The Scarecrow of Oz, Rinkitink of Oz, The Lost Princess of Oz, The Tin Woodman of Oz. After the writer's death, his heirs published the manuscripts of two more Oz stories: The Wizardry of Oz and Glinda of Oz.

In most recent books, the author's weariness with this topic was already felt, but young readers from all over the world asked him for new fairy tales, and the writer could not refuse them. It is noteworthy that even today some children write letters to the writer, despite the fact that Lyman Frank Baum died long ago.

Books about Santa Claus

Although Baum received worldwide fame and name thanks to the endless epic about Oz, he also wrote other fairy tales. So, after the success of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the writer wrote a wonderful good Christmas tale "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus." In it, he told about the fate of a kind boy, raised by a lioness and the nymph Nekil, about how and why he became Santa Claus and how he received immortality.

This fairy tale was also very liked by the children. Apparently, Baum himself was closer to the story of Santa Claus than to the land of Oz, and soon he publishes the book "Kidnapped Santa Claus". In it, he talks about the main enemies of Klaus and their attempts to disrupt Christmas. Later, the plot of this book was often used for many films.

During his rather long life, Lyman Frank Baum wrote more than two dozen books. These books were received differently by the public. Fairy tales brought him the greatest popularity. And although the author has repeatedly tried to write on other topics, and very successfully, for his readers he will forever remain the court chronicler of Oz.