The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | Anniversary

An image from the original 1900 edition

《绿野仙踪》,published in 1900, is the first American fairy tale and the first fantasy written by an American to enjoy an immediate success upon publication. So powerful was its effect on the American imagination, so evocative its use of the forces of nature in its plots, so charming its invitation to children of all ages to look for the element of wonder in the world around them that authorL. Frank Baumwas forced by demand to create book after book about Dorothy and her friends—including the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, and Glinda the Good Witch.

When Baum died in 1919, the series lived on under the authorship of Ruth Plumly Thompson and others who themselves had loved the stories as children. Published in many foreign countries,The Wizardeven found its way as far as Russia, where it was translated in 1939 by Alexander Volkov, who then wrote twoOzbooks of his own. That was also the year that Dorothy and her friends appeared on the silver screen in the immortalMGM adaptationfeaturingJudy Garland,Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, andBert Lahr.