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Article: Ranjit S. Dighe, ed. The Historian's Wizard of Oz: Reading L. Frank Baum's Classic as a Political and Monetary Allegory.(Book Review)
- Article from:
- Utopian Studies
- Article date:
- January 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Society for Utopian Studies. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002. xi + 149 pp. $59.95 (cloth); $21.95 (paper).
I'VE STOPPED TELLING PEOPLE I study L. Frank Baum's works because I've gotten tired of hearing the common responses: "Don't the shoes represent something political?" "Doesn't the yellow brick road symbolize gold?" "What exactly do the winged monkeys represent, anyway?" These sorts of questions, combined with the confusion generated by the differences between Wizard of Oz and its film adaptation, often impede intelligent conversation between an Oz scholar and the general public. People seem to love neat symbolism that can be mapped, one-to-one, on to some "real" thing, preferring it to ...