A Revisionist Tale

Gregory Maguire is undoubtedly a great writer. In his revisionist series, The Wicked Years, he portrays L. Frank Baum's Oz as a country in a deep state of turmoil. The Land of Oz in Maguire's image depicts The Wizard of Oz as a harsh dictator who overthrew the Ozmas, the royalty of Oz. The three books: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Son of a Witch, and A Lion Among Men all contain bold descriptions of the nature of evil and hardship that was present in Oz during the Wizard's reign of tyranny.

One major element in the series is the Wizard of Oz's purge against anthropomorphic animals; capitalized Animals in the books to distinguish it from ordinary animals. In Son of a Witch, this is particularly established when Liir, the book's main character, discovers that the Wizard is keeping Animals prisoner in an underground prison beneath the Emerald City. Within the pages of A Lion Among Men, it is said that many Animals are migrating to the Vinkus, the western part of Oz, to escape the Wizard's campaign against them.

Maguire's Oz is broadly different than L. Frank Baum's Oz that generations of Americans have grown to love. Through the series' expression of evil and oppression, Maguire has created many dynamic characters. For instance, Galinda, who at first is snotty and mean, undergoes a massive change when Doctor Dillamond, a professor at the university she attends, is found dead. As a result, she changes her name to Glinda as a token to Doctor Dillamond's mispronunciation of her name.

I deeply respect Gregory Maguire's saga of good and evil because it is interesting to see an Oz plagued by unrest when the Oz that I knew before was full of happiness and joy. So I tip my hat to you Mr. Maguire. You have truly penned a fantastic series!