by L. Frank Baum
Folklore, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly unreal. The winged fairies of Grimm and Andersen have brought more happiness to childish hearts than all other human creations.Yet the old time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as "historical" in the children's library; for the time has come for a series of newer "wonder tales" in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible and blood-curdling incidents devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale. Modern education includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident.
Having this thought in mind, the story of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was written solely to please children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.
Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from A Retreived Reformation by O' Henry.
The trailer of Judy Garland's breakout movie of 1939; why wasn't the rest of Baum's Oz books made into movies?
Illustrated: cover of the book's first edition in 1900.
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I enjoyed your take on the Wizard of Oz. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a favorite as it's what I based my fantasy novel on. I look forward to your insights. :)
ReplyDeleteAppreciate the comment but this is not my take. It is Baum's own introduction to his book.
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