Introduction
Lyman Frank Baum was born in Chittenango, New York, in 1856. Before he found his calling, the future writer was engaged in poultry farming, played in the theater, and wrote columns in the newspaper. Baum was from a wealthy family, but he more than once went through many troubles that brought his family’s fortune to zero on the way to his destiny.
Biography
He survived his father’s bankruptcy, a theater fire, and the closure of a newspaper in which he wrote poignant humorous columns. However, by 1897, he embarked on the path of his vocation and decided to write children’s stories. At first, Baum publishes Mother Goose’s Tales in Prose, but the turning point in his biography is writing a series of tales about the Magic Land of Oz (Rogers 75). These literary works brought fame to the writer, and since then, his mailbox has been filled with children’s letters.
Another critical moment in his biography is opening a shop in 1888, where Baum sold various goods from sweets to bicycles. It is noteworthy that this shop was popular with children, as its owner entertained the children with various stories, which he told with sincere enthusiasm (Rogers 27). Even though the store was not profitable and was closed after only two years, Baum had a significant experience with children who fell in love with his stories. It is also worth noting that the writer himself was the father of four children and developed various ideas for screen versions of his works, productions, or even a project for a children’s amusement park until the end of his life.
Influence
There was little traditional literary criticism devoted to Baum’s writings. It may be because he did not belong to the literary circles of communication of writers (Chaston 157). Nevertheless, it is still possible to trace the literary influence that gave birth to the classics of the genre of children’s fairy tales. Of course, playing in the theater left a specific imprint on Baum’s work because often, the power of the writer’s imagination is compared to Shakespeare (Schama).
His phrase “there is no place like home” has become a reflection of the American popular consciousness of both adults and children. Many critics see the similarity of Oz to the work of John Bunyan “Piligrim’s Progress” in the image of the yellow and straight road and the richness of history with images. Baum was familiar with Bunyan’s book, although Baum himself did not recognize any literary influence, calling his pure work fantasy and a burst of inspiration (Franson 92). Combining the scale of colorfulness, the story of Baum got rid of religious overtones, replacing them with a mythical and closer to America image of the land of Oz.
Contribution
Speaking about the cultural heritage of Baum, it is worth mentioning his innovative solutions in the genre of children’s fairy tales. The tales of Andersen and the Brothers Grimm were prevalent then. Earlier, this genre had the classical structure of the struggle between good and evil, the search for its corner on earth, evidence of justice (Aigner 58). However, Baum portrayed a tale without the chilling incidents and heartache of the protagonists (Franson 95).
Moreover, Baum portrayed the Wizard of Oz not as an omnipotent sovereign but as an ordinary merchant, not devoid of human emotions. Moreover, the main character, Dorothy, has an inner ability to fulfill her desires, which also reveals, in a certain sense, the idea of humanity inside a magical, contradictory world. Finally, all the elements familiar to a fairy tale were combined in one world, in which both an adult and a child will be attractive.
Even one of the future books on the biography of the children’s writer is written in the style of fairy tales (Loncraine 20). Critics almost unanimously note his contribution to American culture to create a purely American fairy tale (Aigner 55). The images of the scarecrow, the lumberjack, and the lion reflect the various strata of American society, their own problems, and their own motives to solve these problems. This work is interesting to adults as much as to children. Thus, Baum contributed to American culture, creating a world that had to be seen through the eyes of a child, full of hope, happiness, and kindness – all those qualities that the writer carried through his entire life, despite all the vicissitudes of fate.
Conclusion
Baum’s biography is full of experience in various kinds of activities. During this experience, Baum communicated with different people, often with children, never stopped at what he had achieved, despite all the setbacks, and was a happy person in a happy family. This piece of irrepressible fantasy and activity, a piece of human communication with the world, and a piece of happiness were incorporated into children’s fairy tales. An instructive motive and morality can still be found in his works, but now they are presented to children with a share of humor and an atmosphere of kindness, the distinctive qualities of Baum himself.
Works Cited
Aigner, Alycen. “The Wonderful World of Oz: The Assimilation between Imaginary Literature and Society, State & Power.” 2014.
Chaston, Joel. “The Wizard of Oz: The Shaping of an Imaginary World, and: Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum.” The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 25, no. 1, 2001. pp. 157-160.
Franson, J. Karl. “From Vanity Fair to Emerald City: Baum’s Debt to Bunyan.” Children’s Literature, vol. 23, no. 1, 1995. pp. 91-114.
Loncraine, Rebecca. The real Wizard of Oz: The life and times of L. Frank Baum. Penguin, 2009.
Rogers, Katharine M. L. Frank Baum: Creator of Oz: A Biography. Macmillan, 2002.
Schama, Chloe. “Frank Baum, the Man Behind the Curtain.” Smithsonian Magazine, 2009. Web.