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News Mon Aug 24 2009
The Interpretation of Oz
A new biography of L. Frank Baum is hitting the shelves, this time with a particular spin on looking at his classic children's tale The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Author Rebecca Loncraine is imparting a Freudian take on Oz to explain how Baum dreamed up his wonderland in the first place. According to this New York Times review, Loncraine is not the first biographer to attempt to do so, saying, "It does not take Freud's insight to find origins of Oz's Emerald City in the famous White City built for the 1893 World's Fair." But the reviewer does describe the book as one revealing the numerous influences on Oz's creation and the subsequent failure of the author to live "happily ever after," making it more interesting than other biographies who have cut Baum's life story short.
