In Sickness and in Oz

[vovat]

Okay, it's Tuesday, which means it's time for another one of my obsessive Oz posts. This time, I'm going to talk about sickness. In Emerald City, we're told, "No disease of any sort was ever known among the Ozites, and so no one ever died unless he met with an accident that prevented him from living." Herby reiterates this same basic idea in Giant Horse. Yet Tip (who, as anyone reading this far probably knows, was an enchanted fairy) mentions having had the ague in Land, and one of Billina's chicks dies of the pip offstage. A popular explanation is that these sicknesses occurred when Lurline's enchantment was either incomplete or an remission, but it doesn't necessarily look like disease was totally eradicated even once the enchantment was in full force. In Lost Princess, one of the Herkus says, in describing Czarover Vig, "He even obliges a slave to sneeze for him, if ever he catches cold." The statement doesn't actually indicate that Vig ever DOES catch cold, but it would still be an odd statement to make in a land where sickness is totally unknown. Grampa has the Queen of Ragbad catching cold during a bad thunderstorm, and the river-dwelling Scooters from Lost King have the idea that they'll catch cold if their feet get dry. A recurring subplot in Wonder City involves a disembodied voice, forced out of its former owner by a cold. It kind of looks as if even living in an enchanted fairyland isn't a cure for the common cold. I guess I can imagine an Ozite having to miss a day of work due to a fever or something, but not having any sort of prolonged illness.

Comments

[travspence.livejournal.com]

Is this going to be on the test?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

No, the test will only cover the period of Ozian history from the reign of Pastoria through the arrival of Dorothy. {g}

[newwwoz.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

What kind of test is this? Multiple choice? Oh, no, we have to write... ESSAYS, DON'T WE???

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

No essay questions, please!!!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

It's okay. You'll only have to do two essay questions out of a choice of five.

1. What sociopolitical factors allowed the Witches to take control of most of Oz?

2. Compare and contrast the ruling styles of Pastoria and the Wizard.

3. What were the major events contributing to the downfall of Mombi?

4. How did the collapse of the condiment mining industry contribute to the weakened political situation in the Winkie Country?

5. Describe the strategic advantages that the Wizard obtained in building the Emerald City.

SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: If you had the Golden Cap and could control the Winged Monkeys, what three things would you ask for?

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

1. That's easy: drought, combined with the Witches' promise that they would provide for all the needs of the people by taxing the ruling class.

4. When the farmers couldn't ketchup, voters decided the present government couldn't cut the mustard.

Oh, and 5. The Wizard cemented his rule by providing the Emerald City with green lingerie shops.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

If they'd only managed to take care of the drought, it might have done something about the Witches as well!

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Exactly -- you'll find no old wicked witches in flood-prone areas.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Unless they're sea hags, but that's another kettle of fish.

kettle of fish

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Which is what sea hags eat. :-)

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

It's an enchanted cold going around, of course -- nasty stuff.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, especially when it leads to coughing backwards, or sneezing out replicas of court reports.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh, you have that too???

:-)

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I caught it from Lurline.

[cog1201.livejournal.com]

I had no idea there were so many Oz books. I still have not read one, maybe someday, when I stop trying to read my way through the Russian classics.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Hey, there was a series of Russian Oz books, too!

[cog1201.livejournal.com]

are they in russian?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Some of them have been translated into English. I haven't read any of them, though.

[cog1201.livejournal.com]

weird, did other people write oz books?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

It's a little complicated, really. L. Frank Baum wrote fourteen Oz books, plus a few other stories about the place. After Baum died in 1919, the publishing company (with the approval of Baum's widow) commissioned Ruth Plumly Thompson to continue the series. She ended up writing twenty-one Oz books, although the last two were picked up by a different publisher in the seventies, and hence often not considered canonical. What many would consider the official books number forty: fourteen by Baum, nineteen by Thompson, and seven by other hands. And there have been a lot of fan-written sequels, especially since the early books went into the public domain.

The Russian Oz books are a different story entirely. In 1939, Alexander Volkov wrote what was mostly a translation of The Wizard of Oz, but with a few of his own elements added in. After that, he wrote a few sequels, which used some aspects of Baum's later books, but diverged from them in many ways. People who care about such things sometimes consider them to be describing an alternate version of Oz.

[cog1201.livejournal.com]

Wow, I had no idea Oz was so complicated. I thought it was like a 10 book series and that was the end of it.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a lot of people don't know. I kind of feel like they're a hidden treasure, although I also wish they were more popular.

[cog1201.livejournal.com]

lol, well perhaps I will have to read them of course I have to start at book 1.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Always a good place to start! {g}

[carvinkeeper12.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I keep seeing these posts about Oz, and it reminds me I need to read all of these. I devoured the first two L. Frank Baum books, but my Jr. High library didn't have the rest.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Well, if you liked the first two, you'll probably like at least some of the others as well!