{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/1419", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 1419, "subject": "Ozflash Revised, Part 1", "messages": 2, "voices": 2, "first": "1999-03-08T01:04:27+00:00", "last": "1999-03-08T02:52:33+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "William H. Ansley", "address": "wansley at warwick.net" }, "date": "1999-03-08T01:04:27+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Ozflash Revised, Part 1", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "The New Improved Wonderful Eyeflash of Oz\nOz References in \"The Eyeflash Miracles\" Part 1\n\nFirst of all, I would like to express my great appreciation to alga, who\nwas kind enough to read over these essays and make useful comments and\ncorrections.\n\nThis posting could be considered to be my way of volunteering to answer the\nFAQ: What are the Oz references in \"The Eyeflash Miracles\"? (for the second\ntime) except that I doubt it is a question asked very frequently. It is one\nthat interests me, however.\n\nI don't intend on doing a detailed summary of the whole plot of \"The\nEyeflash Miracles\" because it would take too long; I am going to\nconcentrate on the parts with Oz references. But I am also going to single\nout the places in the text where miracles seem to occur. The miracles\noften, but not always, seem to be linked with Oz references. For those of\nyou who are interested in my annotations and would like to be able to\nfollow along, I recommend that you re-read the story. Here is where to find\nit: _The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories_.\n\nAlthough I don't really think it is necessary to warn about Wolfe spoilers\nin postings on this list, I will warn everyone that there will be some *Oz*\nspoilers before I finish this series of essays.\n\nWhen I first read \"The Eyeflash Miracles\" I noticed that it had many\nreferences to Oz in it as well as references to many other things,\nincluding (not at all surprisingly) a great deal of Christian symbolism. I\nam not very qualified to discuss the Christian aspects of the story\n(especially as there are so many others on this list who are), but I am\nfairly well qualified to discuss the Oz aspects.\n\nAs most of you, if not all of you, know _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ was\njust the first of many Oz books that L. Frank Baum wrote, although, because\nit was made into the very well known film[1] of almost the same name (_The\nWizard of Oz_), it is by far the most famous of his books (he also wrote\nmany non-Oz books, which are even less well known).\n\nThe movie version differs from the book in several significant ways. I\nmention this because Wolfe refers to details from both the book and movie\nversions of _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_, as well as _The Marvelous Land of\nOz_ (the second Oz book), _Ozma of Oz_ (the third), _The Road to Oz_ (the\nfifth) and _Tik-Tok of Oz_ (the eighth). I have recently reread the first\nten Oz books[2] so I can be pretty sure about these. There may be\nreferences to other, later Oz books (in fact I think there is at least one)\nbut not many. Since characters, places and situations recur throughout the\nOz series, it certainly would be possible to include more books, but I am\ntrying to include only the first occurrence of each reference.\n\nThe most interesting thing to me about the Oz references in \"The Eyeflash\nMiracles\" is that even though many of them are so explicit as to be quite\nobvious and wholly unambiguous (which is unusual for Wolfe) the boy in the\nstory, George Tibbs (usually referred to as Little Tib) never recognizes\nany of them. Now, I am willing to accept that, because of his unusual\nbackground and upbringing, Little Tib never saw the _Wizard of Oz_ movie or\nread any of the Oz books, but then why does he see characters from the Land\nof Oz in his dreams and visions? Although I initially said I didn't know\nthe answer to this question, I now realize a clue is given in the text,\nwhich I will point out when I get to it.\n\nAn additional, pragmatic reason that Wolfe never has Little Tib refer to\nany of the Oz characters in the usual, familiar way may be to avoid any\npossibility of infringing any copyrights or trademarks on the names of the\ncharacters. I am not a lawyer, so I don't know if this really could be a\nproblem, but it seems possible.\n\nAnother, more general, point of interest for Wolfe fans is the insight it\ngives us (however slight) into what Wolfe read as a child. That dates of\npublication of the Oz books by L. Frank Baum range from 1900 to 1920. Other\nauthors[3] continued the series after Baum's death in 1919. The Oz books\nwere extremely popular with children at least through the 1950s and were\nmore or less continuously in print from the time they were published.\n\nGene Wolfe was born in 1931. By the time he was ten, 35 Oz books had been\npublished. Wolfe certainly read the five Oz books I have indicated above,\njudging by the references in \"The Eyeflash Miracles,\" and he probably read\nmany more. I also would guess that he was a child when he read them. I say\nthis not only because the Oz books are more likely to appeal to a child\nthan to an adult but because of the details that Wolfe gets wrong in his Oz\nreferences. This indicates (to me, at least) that Wolfe is relying on his\ndistinct but imperfect childhood memories of Oz, at least in part.\n\nWilliam Ansley\n\n[1] I am, of course, referring to the 1939 MGM film starring Judy Garland.\nThere were other films with the same name more or less based on the same\nbook.\n\n[2] Here is a list of all the Oz books by L. Frank Baum and their\npublication dates:\n\n_The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ (1900)\n_The Marvelous Land of Oz_ (1904), reprinted as _The Land of Oz_\n_Ozma of Oz_ (1907)\n_Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz_ (1908)\n_The Road to Oz_ (1909)\n_The Emerald City of Oz_ (1910)\n_The Patchwork Girl of Oz_ (1913)\n_Tik-Tok of Oz_ (1914)\n_The Scarecrow of Oz_ (1915)\n_Rinkitink in Oz_ (1916)\n_The Lost Princess of Oz_ (1917)\n_The Tin Woodman of Oz_ (1918)\n_The Magic of Oz_ (1919)\n_Glinda of Oz_ (1920)\n\nThere is also _Little Wizard Stories of Oz_ (1913) which is a collection of\nsix short stories about Oz.\n\n[3] There have been over 40 Oz books written altogether, the majority by\npeople other than Baum. The first 40 (known as the Famous Forty) were more\nor less official and authorized by Baum or his estate. Later books may not\nhave been authorized. The most prolific of the authorized authors was Ruth\nPlumly Thompson. I read at least 20 Oz books long ago, from a set owned by\nmy mother." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Roy C. Lackey", "address": "rclackey at stic.net" }, "date": "1999-03-08T02:52:33+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Re: Ozflash Revised, Part 1", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "On 3-8-99 \"William H. Ansley\" wrote:\nThis posting could be considered to be my way of volunteering to answer\nthe" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "FAQ: What are the Oz references in \"The Eyeflash Miracles\"? (for the second\ntime) except that I doubt it is a question asked very frequently. It is one\nthat interests me, however.<<\n\n Stop apologizing and get on with it! \n\n I have never read the Oz stories (and am too old to start now), but I\nstill enjoy your commentary. I have seen the movie, of course, but that was\nback in the '50s. Even so, I still knew there were obvious references to Oz\nin _Eyeflash_. Heinlein did it too.\n\nRoy" } ] } ] }